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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


33  WIST  MA^  STRUT 

WIUTIK.N.Y.  14SM 

(7I*)373-4S01 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microrcproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Wr^ 


Tachnical  and  Bibliographic  Nota»/Notes  techniques  et  bibiiographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  tha  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


S    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


D 


D 
D 


D 


n 


Couverture  endommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurAe  et/ou  pelliculAe 


(      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I      I    Coloureif  maps/ 


Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


r~n    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  on  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli*  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
•long  interior  margin/ 

La  re  Mure  serrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whunevsr  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
lors  dune  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorjque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  «t«  filmAes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  AtA  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peisc-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normals  de  filmage 
sont  indiqute  ci-dessous. 


I     I   Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagias 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restauries  et/ou  pellicul^es 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxei 
Pages  dicolories,  tacheties  ou  piquAes 


I      I    Pages  damaged/ 

1      I    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

rri    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


□    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  di'.ach^es 

EShowthrough/ 
Transparence 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Qualiti  inigale  de  I'impression 

Includes  SDpplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matAri:«l  supplimentaira 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Mition  disponible 


T 
t( 


T 

P 

r 
fi 


0 
b 
tl 

si 
o 

fl 

si 
o 


Pages  wholly  or  partialty  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  pdrtiellement 
obscurciss  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc..  ont  M  fllm4es  A  nouveau  da  fapon  h 
obtenir  la  meiileure  image  possible. 


T 


N 

d 

hi 
rii 
ft 

m 


This  item  Is  filmed  at  tne  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  riduction  indiquA  ci-dessous 

10X                             14X                             18X                             22X 

26X 

XX 

1 
1 

J 

12X 


20X 


24X 


2SX 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Library  of  the  Public 
Archives  of  Canada 


L'exemplaire  filmA  fut  reproduit  grAce  A  la 
gAn6rosit4  de: 

La  bibliothdque  des  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 


The  images  appearing  ht  re  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
r'  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copiee  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  end  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  originel  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  appliee. 


Les  images  suivantas  ont  6tA  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grsnd  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
de  la  nettetA  de  l'exemplaire  fiimA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  let  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmaga. 

Les  exempleires  origfneux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim6e  sont  filmte  en  commen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exempleires 
originaux  sont  fiimAs  en  commandant  par  (a 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  unB  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'HIustrstion  et  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
derniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ^  signifie  "A  SUiVRE",  le 
svmbole  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  et 
different  reduction  ratioii.  Those  too  large  to  bu 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  loft  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  pienches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmta  A  des  taux  de  riduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  clichA,  11  est  filmA  A  pertir 
de  I'angle  sup^rieur  geuche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bes,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrcnt  la  mithcde. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

■■■HII 


n. 


•    1 


-*^- f— f*-- 


BE  PORT 


trrtui  ftttt 


TREATY  OF  REGrPROCITr 


TO    RmpLUTE   THE   FISHERIES^    ^ 

Am 

THE    TB4DF    BETWBSN    THE    UNITED    STATES    A9ti\tl^ 
BRITISH   FBOriNCES   OF   NORTH  AMERICA;      *        • 


I        llnpatct  at  tbt  Hcqueit  ot  tfx  Vtrajmti  9i9«rt«i 


iMiHiMiii^yablfiiyii 


7         4      "^         /     •-. 


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•  ,   ^Ve.rt' 


!.«<% 


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« 


A  PfiELIMINARY  REPOET 


OH  TBB 


TREATY  OF  RECIPROCITT 


WITB 


GREAT   BRITAIN, 


10 


BE6ULATE  THE   TRADE   BETWEEN   THE   UNITED 

STATES  AND  THE  PROVINCES  OF  BRITISH 

NORTH  AMERICA. 


PUTAmiD  BT 

E.     H.     DERBY, 

AT  TBI  BBQCUT  OF 

THE  SECBETABY  OF  THE  TBEA8URY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATB8.' 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C: 

TREASURY      DEPARTMENT. 

1806. 


ff  • 


/-53/^ 


1 1 


vV 


^s^toa 


CONTENTS. 


<  tA(B. 

Early  Colonial  Po)i<7  of  6n«t  Britain 6 

Seclusion  of  Colonies, •       .       .       .       .  6 

The  Free  Trade  Policy  of  Great  Britain,       .;......  8 

Protection  withdrawn  from  the  Colonies,       . 6 

The  Lever  to  open  our  Home  Marketo, .       .       .  7 

Sketch  of  the  Growth  of  the  Fisheries, 7 

Services  of  Fishermen  in  Four  Wars, 7 

TreaQr  of  1783.    Provision  as  to  Fisheries,     .       ...       .       .       .       .       .  8 

Progress  of  Fisheries  to  1804.    Ezportb,       ........  8 

Provision  of  Treaty  of  Ghent, 8 

Opinion  of  John  Adams  as  to  Fisheries, 8 

Convention  of  1818.    Three  mile  line .  8 

Construction  of  Treaties 8 

Annexation  of  Cape  Breton  to  Nova  Scotia,  .       .    " 10 

Claims  to  exciusire  nse  of  Bays  of  Fnndy  and  Cholenrs  and  Strait  of  Canso,     .  10 

The  British  Flotillas, 10 

Bedprocity  Treaty 11 

CesMtion  of  Trespasses  and  Complainto, 11 

Ezporto  and  Importe  of  the  Provinces, 14 

Change  in  the  Balance  cf  Trade, 10 

Exporto  and  Importa  of  Great  Britain, 10 

Defecta  of  the  Treaty, 18 

Admission  of  Salt,  Tools  and  Implementa, 18 

Terms  for  new  Treaty, SO 

Ghrowth  of  Commerce  with  the  Provinces, 81 

Population  and  Bavenne  of  the  Provinces, 81 

Canada;  her  Revenue  and  Commerce 28 

Canadian  Policy  and  Plans,    ..       .       .       .       .       .       >.•       .       .  84 

Inducementa  to  the  Treaty, 85 

Report  of  Congressional  Committee  on  Commerce, 86 

Rise  of  Canadian  Duties, 86 

Free  Porta, 87 

Canadian  Ministry, «.  88 

Canadian  Measures, 88 

Importations  by  St.  Lawrence, 89 

Coasting  Trade, *    .       .       .  80 

Beneflta  of  Treaty, 80 

Maritime  Provinces.    Exports  and  Importa.    Tonnage, 88 

Nova  Scotia  I  Commerce,  Mines,  and  Shipping, 83 

New  Brunswick:              "          <•          "            86 

Prince  Edwards  Island  t    <•  ••        •  •*  .86 

Newfoundland  and  Fisheries, 86 

Vancouver's  Island  and  British  Columbia!  Commerce,  Mines  and  Shipping,       .  87 


■  **i-. 


^ 


CONTENTS. 


British  Provindal  Fisheries,    .... 

French  Fisheries, 

Ftench  Boanties, 

U.  S.  Fisheries, 

Oppressive  Duties.  Partial  Remission,  . 
Tonnage,  vessels,  and  men,  employed,  . 
Claims  of  the  Fisheries,  ...       .       . 

Is  a  Treafy  desirable? 

The  period  fltvorable  for  Negotiation,     . 

Conciliation  onr  Tme  Policy,  .... 

Navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ship  Canals, 

Deepening  of  Lake  St  Clair,  .... 

Canal  around  magara  Falls,  and  to  the  Hudson, 

Duties  on  Products  of  the  Provinces, 

Impolicy  of  Duty  on  Animals,  Wool,  Oats  and  Flour, 

Possibility  of  liglit  Duties  on  Lumber,  Fish,  Coal  and  Barley, 

Fishing  Vessels  not  to  b«  confiscated, 

Begistry  of  Ships,  . 

Commisrioners, 

Three  great  Rights  of  the  Union, 

British  Treaties,      . 

Cession  of  Territory, 

Provisiona  for  a  new  Tr«aty,  .. 

IMsconthiaanee  of  Free  Ports, 

Dlaooungenunt  of  Illicit  Trade, 

Assimilation  of  Duties,   . 

Enlargement  of  Free  Ust, 

e^edflc  Duties, 

Patents  and  Copy-rights, 

Discriminations  to  be  aboliriied. 

Protection  of  Fisheries,   . 

Result  of  Conforences,     . 

Fftlongation  of  IVeaty,  . 

Tabniar  Statements, 

Canghnawaga  Canal, 

Smuggling  on  the  Erontier, 

Extract  from  Speech  of  J.  Johnston,  Esq. 

Extract  ftom  Speech  of  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  of  Nova  Scotia,         "  " 

Extract  from  Speech  of  Geoige  H.  Perry,  of  OtUwa,  C.E.,         •'  •' 

Extract  ftom  the  Speech  of  Duncan  Stuart,  Esq.,  at  Detroit, 

heOa  of  Hmsts.  Dean  and  Iaw,  of  Prince  Edwards  Island,  as  to  Fisheries, 


,,  of  MUwaukie,  at  Detroit,  in  1865, 


■     /  ■ 

PAOI. 


41 
42, 44, 46 
42,44,46 
46 
47 
47 
47 
47 
48 
48 
61 
82 
55 
57 
59 
61 
62 
32 
64 
66 
66 
«6 
65 
66,69 
66,69' 
66,69 
66,69 
67 
68 


71 
W 
U 

n 

82 
84 
88 
88 


Vi, 


REPORT. 


To  the  Hon.  Hugh  M'Ciillooh,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 


V    ( 


In  conformity  to  your  wishes  I  have  devoted  much  time  to 
the  Reciprocity  Treaty,  and  respectfully  submit  the  results. 

The  subject  is  one  which  has  important  relations  both  to  the 
foreign  policy  of  the  country  and  to  the  Fisheries,  Commerce, 
Customs,  and  Internal  Revenue,  confided  to  your  care,  and  the 
termination  or  renewal  of  the  Treaty  must  affect  the  report  of 
the  Commissioners  appointed  imder  the  recent  Act  of  Congress, 
to  revise  the  revemie  system. 

It  is  therefore  important  to  determine  if  there  is  an  exigency 
for  a  new  treaty ;  and  if  there  is,  what  modifications  are  required 
to  adapt  it  to  the  present  state  of  our  finances,  and  what  changes 
are  necessary  to  supply  any  defects  disclosed  by  the  light  of  our 
experience  for  the  ten  years  of  its  continuance.  A  Treaty  under 
which  our  commerce  with  the  Provinces  has  increased  thrieefold, 
or  from  $17,000,000  in  1852,  to  $68,000,000  in  1864,  is  not  to 
be  abandoned,  or  the  amity  which  now  exists  between  con- 
tiguous nations  of  the  same  origin  to  be  endangered,  without 
careful  investigation  and  conclusive  reasons. 

For  half  a  century,  from  1776  down  to  1830,  it  was  the 
policy  of  the  mother  country  to  restrain  the  United  States  from 
a  free  commerce  with  the  Provinces,  although  often  urged  by 
ns  to  free  the  Provincial  trade  from  its  restraints.  At  tLnes  the 
trade  with  the  Provinces  was  entirely  interdicted ;  at  others, 
gypsum  and  grindstones  could  be  obtained  upon  the  frontier  at 
Eastport  and  Lubec  only  by  an  evasion  of  the  law. 

In  1880  under  the  McLean  arrangement,  trade  was  resumed 
under  heavy  duties  and  restraints.  Down  to  this  period  we 
knew  Quebec  a?  the  chief  fortress,  and  Halifax  as  the  chief 
naval  station  of  the  British  Empire  upon  our  side  of  the  ocean, 


6 


COLONIAL  TBADE. 


/ 


rather  than  as  marts  of  commerce,  and  there  was  little  fellowship 
between  us  and  the  Provincials,  many  of  whom  were  descended 
from  the  Loyalists  who  followed  the  British  troops  from  our 
shores. 

Asperity  of  feeling  gradually  wore  away  after  the  resuinption 
of  trade.  ,  And  in  1844,  Great  Britain,  having  acquired  an 
ascendancy  in  the  arts  and  in  capital,  and  set  in  motion  her 
steam-power,  which  Mr.  Howe,  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  his  recent 
sprech  at  Detroit,  considers  equal  to  the  force  of  800,000,000 
of  men,  became  an  advocate  of  free  trade,  so  far  as  it  applies 
to  the  importation  of  materials  and  the  exportation  of  manufac- 
tures. Having  reached  a  high  point  in  the  cultivation  of  her 
soil,  she  desired  to  increase  her  supplies  of  breadstuffs  and  thus 
cheapen  skill  and  labor,  and  aimed  to  furnish  all  nations  with 
her  numerous  manufactures  fashioned  from  their  rude  materials 
by  the  force  she  had  warmed  into  life,  which  toiled  for  her  with- 
out fee  or  reward. 

To  accomplish  this  object,  she  was  obliged  to  repeal  many 
protective  duties,  and  to  admit  wheat  and  provisions  and  varied 
productions  of  foreign  lands  in  competition  with  those  from 
her  Colonics. 

Her  Colonies  were  exasperaced  and  it  soon  appeared  that  she 
could  not  retain  their  allegiance,  without  providing  for  them 
new  markets  and  giving  a  new  stimulus  to  their  navigation  and 
fisheries.  She  became  solicit:  :;s  also  to  carry  her  principle  of 
free  trade  into  the  United  States,  and  make  a  treaty  with  the 
Colonies  an  entering  wedge  for  new  commercial  undertakings. 

Canada  had  thus  far  relied  upon  her  vast  rafts  of  timber 
floated  down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Quebec,  and  her  ships  built 
for  sale  at  Liverpool  and  Glasgow  for  exports,  and  she  saw  with 
dismay  the  pine  and  fir  of  Norway  supersede  her  timber,  and 
the  iron  steam-ship  displace  the  ships  and  steamers  she  was 
building  at  Quebec. 

She  began  to  seek  a  new  avenue  to  the  sea,  through  New 
York  ^nd  New  Plngland,  and  new  markets  in  our  growing  cities 
and  villages. for  the  products  of  her  agricu.ture. 

Nova  Scotia,  with  forests  and  fisheries  at  her  gates,  and  beds 
of  coal  and  gypsum  bordering  on  the  sea,  desired  free  access 
to  our  great  seaports  to  dispose  of  her  fish  and  coal,  and  give 
employment  to  her  seamen.    „,j^,..,^^,„  ^^^^, 


f  y*|j?!«»-'-i'f»p^  v\* 


M  i . 


/ 


/ 


,f;i- 


If, 


THE  FISHEBIES. 


lew 

lies 


The  British  Isles  and  the  Colonies  continued  to  press  for 
Reciprocity.  They  found  the  United  States  engaged  in  the 
development  of  their  agriculture  and  manufactures,  with  pro- 
gressive navigation,  and  not  prepared  for  so  important  a  change ; 
but  the  Provinces  were  urgent ;  they  were  able  to  show  the 
patronage  they  would  give  to  railways  and  manufactures. 
Articles  were  written  for  magazines  and  active  agents  retained, 
but  the  lever  with  which  they  moved  the  United  States  was 
a  combination  against  her  fisheries«~the  cod,  herring  and 
mackerel  fisheries  of  the  United  States.* 

The  English  who  first  came  to  our  shores  embarked  in  the 
fisheries,  and  our  Pilgrim  fathers,  within  three  years  after  they 
landed,  established  fishing  stations  at  Cape  Ann.  More  than 
twenty  sail  of  fishing  vessels  were  annually  on  our  coasts,  240 
years  since,  and  before  the  Revolution  the  men  of  Massachusetts 
are  reported  by  Burke  as  extending  their  voyages  to  the  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  Seas. 

They  followed  the  cod,  herring  and  mackerel  to  the  coasts  of 
Cape  Breton,  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland. 

The  fishing  towns  were  surrounded  by  flakes  on  which  they 
dried  their  spoil,  and  in  winter  they  transported  it  on  their 
small  craft  to  Spain,  the  Carolinas  and  the  West  Indies.  The 
hardy  fishermen,  with  the  son  of  a  fisherman,  Sir  W.  Pepperell, 
at  their  head,  conducted  the  siege  of  Louisburg,  where  they 
captured  a  fortress  which  had  cost  five  millions  of  dollars 
and  was  defended  by  200  cannon. 

In  the  Revolution  they  manned  the  navy  of  the  Union  and 
contributed  to  the  success  of  our  country  by  raising  the  rate 
of  insurance  on  British  vessels  to  50  per  cent.,f  and  as  Curwen 
.jtates  in  his  memoir,  in  two  years  captured  738  ships  and 
property  worth  $26,000,000. 

They  fought  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  Qi  leral  Knox,  the 
chief  of  our  artillery  in  1777,  does  them  justice.  "  I  wish,"  he 
said,  in  his  address,  to  the  legislature  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, "  that  you  could  have  heard  Washington  on  that  stormy 
night,  when  the  floating  masses  of  ice  in  the  Delaware  threat- 
ened to  defeat  his  enterprise,  demand  who  will  lead  us  on,  and 

*  The  hidtory  of  these  Fisheries  is  well  given  by  Hon.  L.  Sabine  in  his  able 
report  to  which  I  am  iudebtad  for  valuable  fijcts  and  suggestions. 

t  It  wa«  again  raised  to  the  same  rate  in  the  war  of  1812. 


m 


MABBLEHEAD. 


seen  the  men  of  Marblehead,  and  Marblehead  alone,  stand  for- 
waxd  to  lead  the  army  along  the  perilous  path,  to  unfading 
glories  and  honors  in  the  achievements  of  Trenton.  There  went 
the  fishermen  of  Marblehead,  alike  at  homo  on  land  or 
water,  alike  ardent,  patriotic  and  imfiinching,  wherever  they 
unfurled  the  flag  of  their  country." 

In  i/72  the  voters  of  Marblehead  were  1,203.  In  1780  but 
644  voters  remained.  The  residue  were  represented  by  458 
widows  and  966  orphan^  The  orphan*;  of  Marblehead  subse- 
quently manned  the  Constitution  and  other  frigates  in  the 
war  of  1812.  At  the  conferences  at  Paris,  which  preceded 
the  peace  of  1788,  John  Adams  insisted  on  our  right  to  the 
fisheries,  although  Congress  was  willing  to  resign  them. 

"  If  use  and  possession  give  right, '  he  said  to  the  Commis- 
sioners, "  we  have  it  as  clearly  as  you.  If  war,  blood  and 
treasure  give  a  right,  ouri  is  as  good  as  yours."  "  We,"  con- 
tinued ho,  in  the  same  eloquent  strain,  "  have  constantly  been 
fighting  in  Caiiada,  Capo  Breton  and  Nova  Scotia,  for  the 
defence  of  this  fishery,  and  have  expended  beyond  all  propor- 
tion more  than  you.  If,  then,  the  right  cannot  be  denied,  why 
should  it  not  be  acknowledged  and  put  out  of  dispute.  Why 
should  we  leave  room  for  illiterate  fishermen  to  wrangle  and 
chicane."  John  Adams  made  the  right  an  ultimatum,  and  it 
was  recognized  to  its  full  extent  in  the  treaty  of  1783  ;  we  were 
entitled  by  it  to  fish  wherever  tlie  people  of  the  country  had 
fished  before. 

With  the  close  of  tlie  war  our  fisheries  revived,  and  in  1804 
tlie  export  of  dry  fish  rose  to  567,800  quintals ;  their  value  to 
§2,400,000.  The  export  of  other  fish  to  89,482  barrels.  Their 
value  to  «'«40,000. 

Our  rights  in  the  fisheries  wore  not  abrogated  by  the  war  of 
1812.  They  were  not  resigned,  but  revived  with  the  treaty  in 
1814. 

The  Commissiouors  who  negctin^'»d  this  treaty  state  that  their 
instructions  forbade  them  to  sufibr  our  right  to  the  fisheries  to 
be  brought  in  question.    They  observe, — 

"  "We  contended  that  tlie  whole  ti-eiity  of  1 78"»  must  ho  considered 

one  tsntiro  permanent  compact,  not  liable,  liko  ordinary  treaties,  to  bo 

'      abrogated  by  n  subsequent  war,  by  tlio  parties  to  it,  as  an  instrumenl 

recognizing  the  rights  and  liberties  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  the  United 


CONVENTION  OF  1818. 


9^ 


[ 


J04 

to 

keir 

of 
in 

koir 
to 

[red 
bo 
keni 
ited 


Statee  as  an  independent'-  nation,  and  containing  the  terms  and  condi- 
tions  on  which  the  two  parties  to  one  empire  had  rautaally  agreed 
henceforth  to  constitute  two  distiuct  and  separate  nations,  the  people 
of  the  United  States  reserving  the  right  of  fishing  and  drying  and 
curing  fcu  previously  enjoyed,  and  this  reservation  was  agreed  to  by 
the  oAer  contracting  party.  This  was  not  forfeited  by  the  war,  and  no 
new  recognition  was  required.  We  stated  this  principle  to  the  British 
plenipotentiaries,  in  ihe  note  we  sent  them,  with  our  project  of  the" 
treaty,  and  no  reply  to  the  note  of  our  Commissioners  was  made,  and 
the  treaty  was  silent  as  to  the  fisheries."      * 

While  this  treaty  of  peace  was  pending  the  venerable  John 
Adams  #rote  to  President  Monroe : — 

"  I  would  continue  this  war  forever  rather  than  surrender  one  acre 
of  our  territory,  one  iota  of  our  fisheries,  as  established  by  the  Sd  article 
ofthetieatyof  1783.'* 

On  the  20th  of  October,  1818,  a  convention  was  entered  into 
with  Great  Britain  by  Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Bush,  to  obtain  a 
recognition  of  the  right  of  fishing  on  the  coasts  of  Newfound- 
land, which  they  secured,  with  the  privilege  of  entering  the 
bays,  creeks  and  harbors  of  the  Provinces,  for  shelter  and 
repairs. 

The  Commissioners,  by  this  convention,  renounced,  for  the 
United  States,  the  right  to  take  or  cure  fish  within  three  miles 
of  "the  coasts,  bays,  harbors  and  creeks  of  the  Provinces," 
(except  Newfoundland  and  Labrador  and  the  Magdalen  Isles,) 
but  reserved  the  right  to  enter  them  for  shelter  and  repairs. 

Upon  the  day  on  which  they  signcl  Uie  convention,  they 
wrote  to  J.  Q.  Adams,  our  Secretary  of  State,  that  this  clause 
was  introduced  and  insisted  on  by  them,  to  prevent  any  impli- 
cation that  the  fisheries  were  secured  to  \\b  by  a  now  grant,  and 
to  show  that  our  renunciation  extended  only  three  miles  from 
the  coast. 

For  twenty-throe  yoai-s  after  the  convention,  down  to  1841, 
but  one  construction  was  given  to  this  convention  by  botli 
parties  and  tho  fishermen,  viz.:  that  by  "bays"  were  meant 
the  small  bays  to  which  tho  fishermen  resorted  for  shelter  and 
roi)air8 ;  but  in  1841,  after  this  conclusive  acquiescence,  the 
colonists  gave  a  new  construction  to  "  bays,"  and  insisted  that 
the  couvoutiou  precluded  the  fishermen  of  tho  United  States 


10 


CONFISCATION  OF  YW^ELS. 


from  entering  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  a  gulf  sixty  miles  wi4e,  the 
great  Bay  of  Chaleurs,  and  the  Strait  of  Ganso,  through  which 
our  fishermen  had  pursued  their  voyages  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury, and  through  which  a  British  Admiral,  in  1839,  saw  a 
fleet  of  600  sail  of  our  fishermen  pass  without  molestation. 

When  Great  Britain  and  the  Provinces  became  solicitous,  in 
1845,  for  such  a  treaty  as  they  had  previously  declined,  and 
after  we  had  permitted  them  to  import  fish  at  a  moderate  duty, 
and  to  enter  it  in  bond  for  exportation,  they  seized  with  avidity 
this  new  construction.  The  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  passed 
Acts  confiscating  our  vessels  if  they  passed  the  line  drawn  three 
miles  from  the  coast,  and  exonerating  the  officers  from  ilamages 
for  detention,  if  the  judge  should  find  any  probable  cause  for 
seizure. 

Cape  Breton  was  annexed  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  after  the  union 
the  legislature  laid  out  counties  across  the  Strait  of  Canso,  to 
bridle  a  great  avenue  of  commerce. 

Ships  of  war  wore  sent  out  year  by  year  to  watch  our  vessels, 
and  in  1852  Great  Britain,  Canada^  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brun»>. 
wick  fitted  out  and  sent  to  the  fishing  groun«.^s  no  less  than 
eighteen  armed  vessels  to  watch  and  arrest   our  fishermen, 
whcse  trade  was  thus  injured  to  the  extent  of  millions. 

The  aid  of  Messrs.  Stevenson,  Everett  and  Lawronce,  at 
London,  was  invoked,  but  the  Nova  Scotians,  including  some 
eminent  men,  now  in  favor  of  the  treaty,  insisted  upon  their  new 
constraction,  and  the  crown  lawyers  were  led  to  give  an  opinion 
in  their  favor. 

This  opinion,  it  appears  to  me,  is  entirely  untenable.  It  was 
not  given  with  much  care  or  deliberation  as  the  counsel  base 
their  opinion  upon  the  term  "  headlands,"  which  they  cite  as 
found  in  the  convention,  where  the  word  does  not  occur. 

As  it  had  no  existence  there,  the  decisions  based  on  it  should 
be  revised.  The  Great  Bay  of  Pucdy  also  has  but  one  head- 
land on  British  territory,  and  borders  for  many  miles  on  the 
c  Mst  of  Maine.  The  term  bays  is  by  the  language  of  the  Act 
liLiitod  to  bays  of  shelter  and  suitable  foi  repairs  and  to  take 
wood  and  water  by  the  words  ^hat  follow,  and  the  Great  Bays  or 
Gulfs  of  Fundy  and  Chaleurs  und  other  bays  exceeding  six^ 
miles  in  width  at  their  outlets  are  unsuitable  for  the  purposOf 
and  consequently  excluded. 


L 


BEGIFBOGITT  TBEATT. 


n 


. ) 


An  acquiescence  for  twenty-throe  years  and  contemporaneous 
exposition  by  those  who  drew  the  treaty  are  also  conclusive,  and 
the  ministers  of  Great  Britain  were  driven  by  Mr.  Everett  to 
abandon  their  pretensions  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  if  not 
deterred  by  Nova  Scotia,  would  have  restricted  the  law  to  bays 
less  than  six  miles  wide  at  their  outlet,  having  once  come  to 
that  determination.*  But  the  Provinces  were  not  easily  quieted ; 
a  collision  was  imminent,  and  our  Government  yielding  to  the 
pressure  became  parties  to  a  treaty,  and  its  abrogation  will 
revive  the  questions  of  1845  to  1852  as  to  our  rights  in  the 
fisheries.  During  the  interval  between  1845  and  1852  com- 
plaints were  made  by  the  colonists  of  the  aggressions  of  our 
fishermen,  of  nets  displaced  on  the  coasts  and  in  the  Strait  of 
Ganso,  and  of  daily  trespasses,  but  since  they  obtained  access  to 
our  home  markets  on  terms  of  perfect  equality,  and  since  they 
recognized  the  right  of  our  fishermen  to  frequent  all  their  shores, 
the  cessation  of  complaints  furnishes  a  strong  presumption  that 
the  fishermen,  were  harmless  and  innocuous  before  the  adoption 
of  the  treaty. 

Reciprocity  Treaty. 

This  treaty  made  by  Lord  Elgin  and  Vf.  L.  Marcy,  July  5th, 
1854,  to  take  efiect  when  satified  by  Great  Britain,  the  United 
States  and  the  Pro .  inces,  provides, — 

Articles  1st  and  2d,  That  the  fishermen  of  the  United  States 
shall,  during  the  continuance  of  the  treaty,  have  the  right  to 
take  fish,  of  all  kinds  except  shellfish,  m  common  with  British 
subjects,  at  any  distance  from  the  8hor«)  on  the  coasts  and  on 
the  bays,  harbors  and  creeks  of  Canada,  New  Brunswick,  Nova 


.  *  Our  righU  to  tho  great  Days  of  i<'untly  and  Chaleun  aro  recognised  by  the 
Umpire  under  .he  treaty  of  1854  in  determining  tho  validity  of  a  beizure  made 
prior  to  the  treaty  and  as  early  at  1848.  His  decision  was  that  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
'Taa  QOt  a  British  bay,  nor  a  lay  witiiln  tho  meaning  of  the  words  bays  in  the 
treaties  of  1783  and  1818. 

The  dedsion,  is  cited  by  Wheaton,  page  820,  and  is  mentioned  by  Ilaut^ 
feuille  on  Rights  of  Neutral  Nations,  Vol.  1,  page  80,  cited  by  Wheaton. 
Oar  right  to  fish  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  in  ail  other  places  in  tho 
sea  where  tne  inhabitants  of  both  countries  (the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain)  used  at  any  time  heretofore  to  fish  was  conceded  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment through  Lord  Bathurst  in  1816.  American  State  Papers,  Vol.  4| 
page  852.  Our  right  to  navl|ate  the  Strait  of  Canso  is  asserted  by  Wheaton, 
page  828. 


12 


TEBMS  OF  TUB  TBBA,TT. 


Sootia  and  Prince  Edward  Island,  with  liberty  to  land  as\d  cure 
fish  on  all  those  shores,  and  on  the  Magdalen  Islands  without 
interfering  with  private  rights  and  property  of  British  subjects. 
These  rights  do  not  extend  to  the  river  fisheries. 

Similar  rights  are  granted  to  British  fishermen  on  our  shores 
and  coasts  north  of  latitude  36.  The  Act  provides  also  for 
appointment  of  a  oomnussioner  by  each  party  to  determine  what 
rights  are  reserved  to  individuals  and  to  settle  all  differences. 

Article  M  provides  that  the  articles  enumerated  in  the  sched- 
ule below,  the  growth  and  produce  of  said  colonies  or  of  the 
Uoited  States,  shall  be  admitted  into  each  coimtry  respectively, 
free  of  duty. 

Schedule. T-GramyfLoMX  and  breadstuffi;  animals  of  all  kinds; 
ashes ;  fresh,  smoked  and  salted  meats ;  timber  and  lumber  of 
all  kinds,  round,  hewed  and  sawed  and  unmanufactured ;  cotton, 
wool,  seeds  and  vegetables ;  undried  fruits,  dried  fruit ;  fish  of 
all  kinds ;  products  of  fish  and  all  the  creatures  living  in  the 
water ;  poultry ;  eggs ;  hides,  furs,  skins  or  tails  undressed ; 
stone  or  marble  in  its  crude  or  imwrought  state  ;  slate ;  butter, 
cheese,  tallow ;  ores  of  metals  of  all  kinds ;  coal ;  \mmaau- 
factured  tobacco ;  pitch,  tar,  turpentine ;  firewood ;  plants, 
shrubs,  trees ;  pelts ;  wool ;  fish  oil ;  rice  and  broom-corn ;  barks, 
gypsum,  ground  and  unground;  wrought  or  unwrought  burr 
and  grindstones ;    dyestuffs ;  flax,  hemp  and  tow  unmanufac- 


tured 


rags. 


/ 


Article  4th  secures  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  the 
right  to  the  free  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  British 
canals  with  vessels  and  boats,  and  to  British  subjects  the  right 
to  navigate  Lake  Michigan,  and  the  United  States  agree  to  urge 
their  State  goveinments  to  allow  British  subjects  to  use  their 
canals ;  ordinary  tolls  to  be  paid  in  both  cases.  The  British 
Government  reserves  a  right  to  suspend  navigation,  but  in  such 
case  the  Government  of  tlie  United  States  may  suspend  the  third 
article.  Tliis  article  also  provides  that  no  export  duty  shall  be 
Ifut  on  timber  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  descending  the 
river  St.  John  and  its  tributaries  destined  for  the  United  States. 

Articles  6/A,  Qt/i  and  7<A  provide  for  the  extension  of  the  pro- 
visions to  Nowfoundlaid,  if  laws  shall  be  passed  by  contracting 
parties  and  Newfoundland  to  that  effect. 


if 


NAVIGATION  OF  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE. 


m 


The  first  article  oi  this  treaty  is  important  in  its  bearing  on 
the  fisheries ;  notwithstanding  the  allecred  trespasses  of  our  fisher- 
men when  restricted  to  the  distance  of  three  miles  from  ';he 
coasts,  bays  and  harbors,  and  their  repeated  seizure,  they  are  by 
this  treaty  allowed  to  frequent  and  approach,  without  regard 
to  distance,  all  the  shores  of  four  Provinces,  and  to  land  and 
cure  their  fish  there  with  the  consent  of  the  private  owners, 
and  are  thus  restored  to  the  rights  claimed  under  the  treaty  of 
1783. 

Although  our  commissioners  in  1818  had  relinquished  the 
right  to  come  within  a  marine  league  of  all  the  shores  but  those 
of  Labrador  and  Newfoundland,  except  for  repairs  and  shelter, 
our  rights  deemed  inadmissible  were  thus  conceded. 

In  exchange  for  this  a  similar  right  to  approach  our  shdres 
was  also  granted,  which,  although  rarely  used,  may  at  times  be 
valuable  as  the  shoals  of  mackerel  usually  strike  our  coasts 
early  in  the  season  and  before  they  reach  the  Provinces.  And 
at  times  the  mackerel  are  pursued  both  in  the  spring  and 
autumn  on  our  coasts  and  more  successfully  taken  than  on 
those  of  the  Provinces. 


pro- 
Jting 


Navigation  op  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Less  than  two  thousand  tons  of  our  shipping  on  the  avei>age 
have  thus  far  annually  passed  down  the  St.  Lawrence  from  the 
lakes  to  the  ocean. 

It  is  a  valuable  outlet  for  our  cereals,  but  its  importance  must 
depend  in  a  groat  measure  upon  the  enlargement  of  the  canals 
and  increase  of  their  depth  to  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  to  suit  a 
class  of  vessels  adapted  to  the  navigation  of  the  ocean. 

The  most  important  article  of  the  treaty  is  the  third,  which 
defines  the  free  list,  and  its  chief  importance  to  us  lies  in  its  free 
admission  of  all  the  products  of  Colonial  fisheries,  agriculture, 
forests  and  mines  into  our  country.  • 

To  illustrate  the  value  and  effects  of  this  provision,  I  submit  a 
tabular  statement  of  the  imports  from  the  above  Provinces  into 
the  United  States,  and  the  exports  to  them  from  the  United 
for  a  series  of  years  preceding  and  following  the  adoption  of  the 
treaty,  which  did  not  take  full  eflFect  xrntil  1865  from  delay  of 
its  ratification. 


14 


EXPOBTS  AND  IMPOBTS  UNDER  TRBATT. 


Htports  and  Importt  from  United  State*  to  Britieh  North  Ameriean 
J^rovinceSf  exclusive  of  those  on  the  Pacific,  from  July,  U51,  to  «/tiifi(r, 
1862. 

(rrraoi  Offletol  lUportr  of  Uw  United  Statot.] 


Exrosn  noic  Umitid  Statu. 

H 

A 

Fonign. 

DomMtte. 

Total  Ezporte. 

iKTOBTt  nro 
VaniB  Statu. 

1852, 
1^, 
1864, 
1855, 
1856, 
1867, 
1858, 
1850, 
1800, 
1861, 
1862, 

13,853,919  00 
6,736,555  00 
9,862,716  00 

11,999,878  00 
6,314,652  00 
4,826,869  00 
4,012,768  00 
6,622,478  00 
4,088,899  00 
3,861,098  00 
2,427,108  00 

96,655,007  00 
7,404,087  00 
15,204,144  00 
15,806,642  00 
22,714,607  00 
10,086,118  00 
10,688,050  00 
17,029,254  00 
18,687,429  00 
18,888,715  00 
18,652,012  00 

910,609,016  00 
18,140,642  00 
24,666,860  00 
27,806,020  00 
29,029,840  00 
24,262,482  00 
23,651,727  00 
28,154,174  00 
22,706,828  00 

22.079.115  00 

21.079.116  00 

96,110,290  00 
7,650,718  00 
8,929,569  00 
15,186,784  00 
21,810,421  00 
22,129,296  00 
15,806,519  00 
10,727,661  00 
28,851,881  00 
28,062,088  00 
10,200,006  00 

In  our  commerce  with  the  Provinces  our  arnual  exports  and 
imports  rose  from  $2,100,000  in  1828  to  $8,800,000  in  1882 ; 
$8,100,000  in  1840  ;  $9,800,000  in  1846 ;  $18,700,000  in  1851 ; 
$50,300,000  in  1856  ;  and  feU  to  $40,400,000  in  1862. 

Since  1862  there  has  been  a  recovery ;  the  aggregate  of 
imports  and  exports  in  the  commerce  with  the  Provinces,  hav- 
ing risen  in  1865  to  $68,000,000,  under  large  importations  from 
Canada. 

From  the  tables  you  will  notice  that  the  trade  was  in  its 
infancy  down  to  1829,  just  before  the  time  when  Mr.  McLean 
made  an  arrangement  for  free  ports  and  the  removal  of  some  of 
tbe  restraints  on  coftmierce,  and  that  the  growth  was  rapid,  more 
than  20  per  cent,  per  annum,  in  tho  four  years  from  1.328  to 
1832.  That  the  advance  was  still  rapid  or  14  per  cent,  per 
annum  down  to  1840.  That  the  movement  then  continued  slow  i 
down  to  1846,  when  goods  came  in  more  freely  aad  fish  and 
flour  wore  admitted  under  bond  for  exportation. 

During  this  period  the  growth  was  loss  than  2\  per  cent  a  year. 
But  with  now  privileges  and  tho  prosjwct  of  Reciprocity  tho 


EXPORTS  AND  IMPORTS  OF  CANADA. 


16 


( 1 


trade  gained  for  the  next  five  years  20  per  cent,  annually,  and 
rose  in  five  years  more  at  the  rate  of  27  per  cent,  per  annum,  to 
$50,300,000  in  1856,  and,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  declined 
25  per  cent,  or  more  than  4  per  cent,  per  annum  down  to  1862, 
the  eighth  yettr  of  Reciprocity,  when  it  receded  to  $40,300,000, 
showing  a  loss  of  $10,000,000. 

This  decline  was  confined  to  the  Canadian  commerce.  It 
becomes  an  important  inquiry  what  measures  caused  this  great 
decline,  and  upon  further  investigation  We  discover  that  the 
decline  ^as  in  our  exports  to  Canada  which  fell  from  1856,  when 
they  were  $20,883,241,  to  1862  when  such  exports  were  but 
$12,842)506.  The  reduction  was  in  round  numbers,  a  reduction 
of  eight  millions  in  exports,  accompanied  by  a  reduction  of  two 
millions  in  importations.  It  is  my  duty  also  to  draw  your 
attention  to  another  fact  shown  by  these  exhibits,  and  still  more 
forcibly  by  the  returns  of  Canadian  trade,  that  prior  to  the 
Reciprocity  Treaty,  which  took  effect,  as  we  have  suggested,  in 
1855,  our  exports  to  the  Province^  usually  exceeded  our  imports, 
but  in  1860  this  was  reversed,  and  since  that  period  imports 
have  exceeded  our  exports  in  commerce  with  the  Provinces. 

Our  trade  with  Canada  may  be  illustrated  by  a  brief  tabular 
statement  of  exports  and  imports. 


B!xport$  from  the  United  StcUei  to  Canada,  and' Import*  from  Canada. 

[Tkkra  Crom  th*  OtBeUl  Tsblti  of  th«  tTniteU  t,:-\tM.] 


DATE. 

EzporU  to  Cuada. 

ImporU  flrom  Canada. 

r 

1850,     .    . 

15,890,821  00 

r 

•4,285,470  GO 

fiefore  Treaty,  . 

1851,     .    . 

7,929,140  00 

4,056,471  00 

.3' 

1858,     .    . 

7,829,090  00 

5,278,116  00 

•wiUP.IfiiKStS^JiWtfoi  r 

185e,     .    . 

20,883,241  00 

17,488,197  00 

.:&W':  ■^msi^i^f.' 

1867,     .    . 

16,574,806  00 

18,291,884  00 

■:jfew4"*v 

1801,     .    . 

14,861,858  00 

18,645,457  00 

Since  Tkvaty,    .    .- 

1862,     .    . 

12,842,504  00 

15,253,162  00 

1868,     .    . 

19,808,718  00 

18,816,090  00 

1864,     .    . 

16,668,420  00 

80,074,118  00 

186S,     .    . 

18,806,407  00 

80,647,267  00 

I 


'|6 


EXPOBIb  AND  QfPCXBTS  OF  GBBAT  BBITAIN. 


IP       I 


/ 


Of  the  above  exports  there  were  of  1861,  specie,  1368,308 ; 
1862,  $2,530,297  ;  1868,14,662,679;  1864,  $2,300,000, 

The  excess  of  imports  into  the  United  States  over  esiports  to 
Oanada  since  1860,  deduced  from  the  above  tables  snd  from 
the  Beport  of  the  Minister  of  Finance  in  Angxist  lapt,  has  been 
more  than  $80,000,000.    The  Canadian  table«  ditfer  somewhat  * 
from  our  official  tables. 

In  considering  the  remarkable  change  which  has  taken  place 
In  the  course  of  pur  trade  with  Canada,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
guard  against  the  danger  of  attaching  any  undue  importance 
to  the  ancient  theory  of  the  balance  of  trade. 

It  may  safely  be  oonceded  that  the  excess  of  imports  over 
exports  is  not  in  all  cases  conduaye  proof  that  commerce 
is  unprofitable.  The  commerce  of  Great  Britain  for  a  series  of 
years,  has  shown  a  large  excess  of  imports  over  exports,  accom- 
panied by  an  excess  of  arrivals  over  shipments  of  specie  and 
great  progrcRs  in  national  wealth.  \ 

Her  exports  and  imports  have  been  as  follows : —  ^ 


DATB. 

Expoiti. 

Imports. 

1858,  . 

1859,  . 

1860,  . 

1861,  . 
L862,     . 

ilH9,782,000 
165,692,000 
164,521,000 
159,682,000 
167,189,000 

£165,588,000 
179,182,000 
210,530.000 
217,486,000 
226,592,000 

Tlie  excess  of  imports  may  spring  from  the  use  of  capital 
abroad,  from  freights  and  profits,  in  which  case  the  excess  of 
imports  indicates  addition  to  wealth,  and  not  accumulating  debt. 

A  change  in  the  balance  of  trade  might  not  alone  warrant  the 
abrogation  of  a  treaty,  but  it  does  warrant  investigation.  We 
may  concede,  safely,  that  a  treaty  of  reciprocity,  which  i^djusts 
the  quarrels  of  nations  and  does  equal  justice  to  each,  is  most 
desirable  for  the  country,  and  at  the  same  time  point  out  omis- 
sions and  objectionable  features  in  a  treaty  we  have  abrogated, 
tnth  a  view  to  one  more  perfect  and  comprehensive. 


i 


OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  TREATY. 


17 


$3,308 ; 

ports  to 
d  from 
as  been 
newhat 

tn  place 
ttvor  to 
ortanoo 

ts  over 
nmeroe 
leries  of 
aocom- 
oie  and 


V 


rte. 


588,000 

182,000 

),000 

86,000 

•92,000 


:apital 

?ess  of 

debt. 

it  the 

We 

djusts 

most 

lomis- 

ited, 


There  were,  and  are,  various  objections  to  the  treaty  about  to 
expire. 

First.  While  it  quieted  strife  and  restored  the  rights  secured 
by  the  treaty  of  '83  to  our  fisheries,  from  which  spring  the  seamen 
to  man  our  navy,  the  mates,  masters,  and  intrepid  merchants  who 
have  guided  our  keels  to  the  very  confines  of  the  earth — it  gave 
to  the  maritime  provinces  our  home  market,  and  the  incentive 
to  improve  the  fisheries  at  their  doors,  for  the  pursuit  of  which, 
they  have  advantages  which  were  counterbiolanced  by  our  intel- 
ligence and  homo  markets  aloD'>. 

We  should  make  the  fisheries  accessory  to  our  own  progress, 
not  to  that  of  Great  Britain.  If  the  maritime  provinces  would 
join  us  spontaneously  to-day — sterile  as  they  may  be  in  soil,  imder 
a  sky  of  steel — still,  with  their  hardy  population,  their  harbors, 
fisheries,  and  seamon,  they  would  greatly  improve  and  strengthen 
our  position  and  aid  v  in  our  struggle  for  equality  upon  the 
ocean. 

If  we  would  succeed  upon  the  deep,  we  must  either  maintain 
our  fisheries,  or  absorb  the  provinces.  In  1863,  the  tonnage  of 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  was  6,041,358 ;  ours  4,986,397. 
The  disparity  is  now  greater. 

For  our  gi'eat  home  market  ^r  her  cod  and  mackerel,  her 
whale  oil,  whalebone  and  seal  oil,  and  the  impulse  it  gives  to 
the  proviuQ^al  fisheries  and  navigation  of  Great  Britain,  have 
we  thus  far  sufiicient  equivalents  ? 

Another  feature  in  the  treaty,  is,  the  impulse  it  gives  to  the 
coal  mines  of  Nova  Scotia  and  Cape  Breton.  The  shipment  of 
coal  from  these  provinces  to  the  United  States,  has  increased 
from  220,000  tons  in  1863,  to  at  least  400,000  tons  in  1865. 

This  is  doubtless  very  acceptable  to  our  commercial  cities  on 
the  coast ;  but  it  comes  free  from  duty  to  compete  with  the 
black  diamonds  from  our  mines,  which  contribute  to  the  expense? 
of  the  war — virtually  it  comes  with  a  bounty  against  our  own 
productions.  The  revenue  thus  suffers,  and  the  foreign  minei 
realizes  the  profits.  If  a  new  treaty  be  made,  some  equivalen' 
should  bo  given  for  this,  or  a  moderate  tax  may  be  imposed  for 
the  benefit  of  the  treasury.  We  are  not,  however,  to  forget  thai 
we  already  export  from  105,000  to  171,000  tons  of  coal  U 
Canada,  a  part  of  which  ascends  the  Hudson  and  reaches  Mon 
treal,  while  a  part  crosses  Erie  and  Ontario,  into  Canada  West* 

8 


18 


TRANSIT  TRADE. 


i!     '  K 


Again,  we  permitted  the  Provinces,  at  the  moment  Oreat  Britain 
was  importing  the  pine  of  Norway,  and  they  were  losing  the  market 
for  a  third  or  half  of  their  timber,  to  send  it  hero  and  enter  the 
home  market,  on  equal  terms  with  our  own  lumbermen.  The 
lumber,  as  well  as  the  products  of  the  fisheries,  flow  from  the 
Provinces  to  the  markets  of  the  Union,  and  there  is  little  or  no 
reciprocity  on  these  articles.  The  Provinces  require  little  of 
our  fish  or  our  lumber.  If  we  make  undue  concessions,  Howe, 
the  organ  of  Nova  Scotia,  at  our  Detroit  convention,  may  well 
compare  us  and  the  provinces  "  to  the  Triune  Trefoil,"  which 
hangs  from  the  stem  of  Great  Britain. 

If  lumber  were  not  free  to-day,  a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  on  our 
own  lumber,  and  of  ten  per  cent,  on  that  of  the  Provinces,  would 
doubtless  place  five  millions  in  our  national  coffers ;  but  the 
insertion  of  lumber  on  our  free  list,  deprives  us  of  this  revenue, 
while  it  enhances  the  value  of  Canadian  forests. 

It  is  doubtless  true,  that  freedom  from  duties  enables  Canada  \ 
to  send  through  New  York  and  Maine,  wheat  and  flour  for  * 
foreign  shipment,  and  enables  the  West  to  send  to  Montreal  a 
portion  of  its  surplus,  to  reach  an  outlet  for  Europe,  at  Montreal. 
This  interchange  is  doubtless  beneficial  to  all  parties,  but  this 
transit  trade  gives  but  little  stimulus  to  production.  The 
conunerce  which  terminates  in  consumption  in  Canada,  consists 
of  the  shipment  to  her  of  a  moderate  amount  of  c<^  and  red 
wheat,  with  some  coal  and  salt,  and  a  less  amount  of  otir  coarser 
products,  provisions  and  imported  goods. 

While  Canada  sends  to  us  for  consumption  her  animals  and 
products  of  the  forest-and  of  agriculture,  she  buys  but  little  of 
any  more  of  our  manufactures  than  she  did  before  the  treaty, — 
although  in  the  last  twelve  years,  she  has  added  two-fifths  to  her 
population,  and  nearly  doubled  her  productions  and  consumption, 
— there  are  important  deficiencies  in  the  free  list,  to  which  it 
is  my  duty  to  call  your  attention,  which  should  be  borne  in 
mind  upon  revision  of  the  treaty. 


Salt. 

The  treaty  is  silent  upon  the  subject  of  salt.  This  is  an 
important  production,  both  of  New  York  and  Michigan. 

Jt  is  produced  near  the  lakes,  and  may  be  easily  transported 
;to  .the  section  of  Canada  \K>rdering  upon  the  lakes,  and  is  as 


smUP,  TOOLS  AND  IMPLEMENTS. 


19 


appropriate  for  the  free  list  as  slate,  marble,  gypsum  or  ashes. 
It  is  a  production  of  the  soil,  and  essential  to  our  animal  life. 
It  is  singular  that  it  was  omitted.* 

Maple  and  Sorqhum  Sibup. 
^    These  also  are  products  of  the  forest  and  agriculture,  and 
come  within  the  spirit  of  the  treaty,  and  should  be  included. 
Sorghum  does  not  flourish  in  Oanada,  but  is  extensively  culti- 
vated at  the  "West. 


Tools  and  Implements. 

The  treaty  includes  in  its  schedule,  the  nuUstone  and  the 
grindstone,  both  implements,  the  one  to  sharpen  the  axe,  the 
other  to  manufacture  wheat  into  flour.  These  are  produced  in 
the  provinces, but  the  treaty  is  bilent  with  respect  to  other  tools; 
the  axe,  the  plough,  tlbe  shovel,  and  the  reaper,  which  are 
fashioned  by  the  artisans  of  New  England  and  the  West.  The 
laws  of  Canada  and  some  of  the  other  provinces,  are  so  deficiei  t 
in  reciprocity,  that  no  patent  can  be  taken  there  by  a  citizen 
of  the  Uuion.  The  Canadian  minister  of  linance,  concedes, 
that  tools,  implements  and  machinery,  and  books,  should  be 
included. 

He  concedes  patents  also.  If  a  new  treaty  be  made  let  it  also 
provide  for  a  patent  law,  and  for  copy-rights,  to  do  justice  to 
inventors  and  authors,  and  let  it  also  contain  a  provision  that  all 
tools,  implements,  and  machinery,  be  added  to  the  free  list.  It 
would  be  desirable  also  to  include  in  this  list  our  manufactures 
of  leather,  tin,  copper,  castings,  pins,  buttons,  types,  utensils, 
carriages,  furniture  and  other  articles.  I  would  also  suggest 
that  while  it  is  desirable  for  both  parties  to  except  from  the 
schedule  the  articles  of  spirit,  tobacco,  sugar,  molasses,  and 
costly  fabrics  of  silk,  flax  and  wool,  as  important  sources  of 
revenue ;  and  while  it  is  desirable  to  withdraw  coal,  lumber, 
and  barley,  and  the  products  of  the  fisheries,  from  the  free  list, 
it  may  be  politic  to  provide  that  these  last  products  of  each 
country  and  all  others,  not  specifically  excepted,  shall  be  subject 
to  duties,  not  exceeding  fifteen  per  cent.,  or  to  duties  as  low  as 
those  of  Canada  before  the  Reciprocity  Treaty. 

*  Canada  now  admit*  lalt  wUhont  intj,  althoagh  omitted  in  the  free  list. 


r 


I    I! 


REASONS  FOR  RENEWAL. 


There  are  gentlemen  of  intelligence,  and  posnibly  some  states- 
men, who  think  it  will  be  politic  to  allow  the  treaty  to  expire 
without  any  efforts  or  arrangement  for  a  renewal ;  who  predict 
that  in  such  case  the  Provinces  will  range  themselyes  under  our 
banner,  and  seek  admission  into  the  Union.  This  accession 
would  doubtless  be  beneficial ;  it  would  bring  to  the  Union  a 
white  population  which  will  in  1868,  possibly  before  the  measure 
could  be  consummated,  reach  four  millions. 

It  would  bring  to  us  two  thousand  miles  of  railways,  and  vast 
forests  and  mines,  and  fisheries  and  mariners,  and  nearly  two- 
thirds  of  a  million  tons  of  shipping ;  but  will  this  accession  be 
^cured  by  the  loss  of  the  treaty  ?  Is  there  not  danger  that 
the  termination  of  the  treaty  will  result  in  mercantile  losses, 
strife  and  alienation  ?  * 

Peace  and  a  prosperous  commerce  create  friendship,  and  tend 
to  alliance ;  and  will  it  not  be  wise  to  make  a  fair  treaty,  one  of 
equivalents ;  to  impose  moderate  diities  for  revenue  on  fish, 
coal,  lumber,  the  chief  subjects  of  the  treaty,  after  agriculture ; 
to  place  salt,  tools,  and  machinery,  and  implements  of  agricul- 
ture, with  other  items,  in  the  free  list ;  to  secure  patents  and 
copy-rights ;  to  remove  all  discriminations ;  and  let  the  Provin- . 
ciab  look  forward  to  a  union  which  will  eventually  remove  these 
duties,  increase  their  wealth  and  contribute  to  their  improve- 
ments ?  Is  the  present  moment,  when  we  are  mastering  a  debt 
of  twenty-eight  hundred  millions  by  severe  taxation,  an  auspi- 
cious one  for  bringing  in  new  States  to  share  our  burden? 
When  we  have  reduced  our  debt  and  our  taxes,  and  shown  that 
they  rest  lightly  on  our  shoulders,  and  England  has  paid  for  our 
losses  by  her  cruisers,  will  not  the  moment  be  more  auspicious 
for  the  enlargement  of  our  territories  ?| 

We  have  traced  the  successive  stages  of  the  growth  of  the 
coQunerce  with  the  Provinces,  doubling  in  seven  years  after 
the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  rising  to  more  than 


^  See  remarks  of  distingoiahed  ProTindals  io  the  Appendix,  page  82. 


t  The  debt  of  Cknadft  in  proportion  to  its  Msessed  wealth  is  nearly  two* 
thirds  the  size  of  our  own.  The  interest  upon  onr  debt  can  be  met  by 
moderate  duties  on  liquors,  cotton,  tobacco  and  coffee,  without  bearing  hearilj 
on  the  FroTinces  should  thej  hereafter  join  us  "  spontaneously,"  as  suggested 
by  the  "  London  Times."  In  1868  our  population  will  reach  40  millions.  We 
hare  lost  but  half  a  million  by  the  war. 


■li-- 


BESOUBCIUS  OF  CANADA. 


fifty  millions  in  1856,  the  second  year  of  the  Treaty  of  Recip- 
rocity. 

During  the  ten  years  from  1851  to  1861,  which  comprise  four 
ye^rs  prior  to  the  treaty  and  six  that  followed,  all  the  Provinces 
made  rapid  progress^  but  Canada  was  pro-eminent. 

From  1851  to  1861  the  population  of  Canada  increased  more 
rapidly  than  the  popidation  of  the  Union.  It  had  gained  86 
per  cent.  In  1860  the  population  of  all  the  Provinces  was  as 
follows : —  '  *  . 


;.i 


Canada,    .... 
New  Brunswick, 
Nova  Scotia,     . 
Newfoundland, . 
Prince  Edwards  Island,     . 

.    2,601,888 

.      233,777 

^       .      230,699 

.    .    .      124,608 

.        .        80,648 

Aggregate,     t  . 

.    3,271,570 

The  rate  of  increase  in  all  the  Provinces  was  nearly  equal  to 
that  of  the  Union.  . 

Canada  led  in  commerce  and  revenue  as  well  as  in  popula- 
tion. In  the  fifteen  years  from  1851  to  1865,  the  whole  exports 
and  imports  of  Canada  rose  from  $35,000,000  to  $87,000,000. 
Her  revenue  rose  also  from  $3,500,000  to  $10,500,000.  Between 
1851  and  1861  her  improved  land  increased  from  7,807,950 
acres  to  10,855,854,  or  49  per  cent. ;  the  value  of  the  same  from 
$263,516,000  to  $466,675,780.  The  wheat  crop,  which  exceeds 
that  of  Illinois  and  of  each  of  our  States,  rose  from  15,756,493 
bushels  to  27,274,779,  or  78  per  cent.  The  oat  crop,  larger 
than  that  of  New  York,  the  leading  State  of  our  Union,  rose 
from  20,369,247  bushels  to  38,772,170,  or  91  per  cent.  During 
the  same  period  the  value  of  her  lumber  rose  from  an  average 
of  $7  to  $10  per  M. 

And  in  the  interval  between  1851  and  1863  her  export  of 
lumber  rose  from  $5,085,628,  of  which  but  23  per  cent,  reached 
the  United  States,  to  a  total  of  $12,264,178,  of  which  a  third— 
nearly  as  much  as  the  former  importation  of  Great  Britain — 
came  to  the  United  States.  For  a  series  of  years  prior  to  1846, 
the  imports  of  Canada  from  the  United  States  greatly  axceeded 


|i  ,:i 


•■ 


'i! 


i! 


i'S! 


i'     V 

i    I' 


22 


PINANCUL  STATEMENT  OP  MINI8TEB  OP  FINANCE. 


the  exports,  and  great  disparity  continued  down  to  the  Reci- 
procity Treaty ;  but  since  1860  the  balance  of  trade  has  been 
reversed. 

The  statement  of  the  minister  of  finance  to  the  Canadian 
Parliament  on  the  29th  of  August  last  shows  the  present  con- 
dition of  Canadian  commerce. 

He  gives  us  for  the  year  a  revenue  o^  $10,528,000,  collected 
at  a  cost  of  13  per  cent. 


Imports  for  the  year  ending  June  30, 1865, 
exclusive  of  specie,       .... 

Specie  imports, 

Exports  of  the  year,  exclusive  of  specie, 
Specie  exports, 


$39,851,991  00 

4,768,478  00 

40,792,966  00 

1,688,191  00 


The  results  present  a  balance  for  tne  year  of'nearly  one  mil- 
lion of  exports  over  imports,  independent  of  specie ;  and  a 
balance  of  gold  close  upon  three  milli'^ns. 

And,  since  this  report  was  made,  it  is  currently  reported  that 
the  sales  of  white  and  red  wheats  horses  and  other  stock  by 
Canadians  for  the  past  quarter  to  this  country  will  reach  eight 
millions.  The  luinister  in  his  speech  estimates  an  addition 
of  si^:  per  cent,  to  the  revenue  for  the  coming  year,  and  gives 
us  the  following  items  of  income : — 

Customs,      '.'"'.      ".        .         $6,166,000  00 

'      Excise  on  spirit,  beer  and  tobacco, .  1,660,000  00 

PostHjffice, 470,000  00 


Public  lands,. 
Ocean  postage. 
Territorial  income. 
Sundries, 


450,000  00 

70,000  00 

650,000  00 

1,650,000  00 


In  illustrating  the  trade  with  the  United  Statos  ho  assumes 
the  imports  froin  our  country  into  Canada  for  tho  preceding 
years,  1860,  Ul,  '62  and  '63,  to  be  $18,879,006  more  than  arc 
shown  by  our  ofiicial  statements.    The  discrepancy  weakens  his 


IMPORTS  AND  EXPORTS  OP  CANADA  FOR  1865. 


23 


argument,  but    does  not  affect  his  returns  for  the  current 
year.* 

His  statement  contains  a  very  full  analysis  of  the  exports  to 
the  United  States  for  the  year.  After  deducting  the  specie 
from  each,  he  gives  us  the  results : — 

Imports  from  all  couutries,  and  exports  to  the      ' 

same,       .        .        .        .        .        .        .  $87.^01,620  00 

Exports  to  the  United  States,  .        .        .'  '     .  $21,350,350  00 
Imp6rts  from  the  UnHed  States,  exclusive  of 

specie,  for  year  ending  June  30, 1865,       .    14,820,557  00 


Excess  of  exports,    .        .        .    '    .  '    '.    $6,529,793  00 

To  liquidate  this  balance  from  our  country  Cuiiada  has 
received  a  large  amount  of  specie. 

The  entire  importation  of  specie  from  all  countries  having 
been  $4,768,478,  he  leads  us  to  the  result  that  while  the  exports 
of  Canada  to  the  world  exceed  the  imports  by  nearly  a  million, 
the  imports  on  goods  from  our  country  are  six  and  a  half  mil- 
lions less  than  those  Canada  has  sold  to  our  citizens,  and  he 
leaves  us  to  infer  that  we  liquidate  the  principal  part  of  the 
balance  in  specie.  If  any  part  of  our  exports  have  been  valued 
in  greenbacks,  the  deficit  will  be  still  greater. 

The  exports  of  Canada  to  the  United  States  are  shown  by 
him  to  bo, —  . 

Lumber, $5,000,000  00 

Animals,  of  which  two-fifths. are  horses,    4,478,000  00 
Wool, 1,851,722  00 


Barley  and  oats, . 

Manufactures, 

Butter, 

Meats, 

Other  products  of  animals,  . 

Balance,  wheat,  flour,  &c., . 


4,500,000  00 
460,000  00 
340,899  00 
484,890  00 
891,000  00 

4,448,839  00 

$21,350,850  00 


*Tho  $18,879,006  added  by  tho  Miniitor  of  Finance  arc  doubtless  goods 
wiiicli  pass  via  tlio  Grand  Trunk  from  Great  Dritain  to  the  St.  Lawrence, 
without  brcnkinti  bulk;  they  are  not  entered  on  our  official  reports,  and, 
carried  liy  British  steamers  and  a  British  railway,  are  British  exports. 

Our  shipments  down  tho  Lawrence  are  less ;  but  $6,000,000  for  two  years, — 
'60  and  'CI. 


li    u 


COUBSE  OF  CANADA  UNDER  RESTBIGTIONS. 


.    .V 


He  regards  the  trade  iu  wheat  or  flour  as  a  mere  interohange 
between  the  United  States  and  Provinces,  the  exports  from 
<]/anada  being  compensated  for  in  part  by  the  imports  into  Can- 
ada, and  are  not  greater  than  th?  shipment  from  the  United 
States  to  the  maritime  provinces  The  minister,  in  the  course 
of  hiu  speech,  beside  giving  ^13  these  particulars,  makes  several 
important  suggestions. 

First — ^That  Canada  would  be  disposed  to  erlarge  her  canals 
if  she  could  be  admitted  to  register  her  shipping  and  participate 
in  the  coasting  trhde. 

That  the  men  who  formerly  led  pubM",  opinion  in  England, 
and  who  thought  colonies  a  burden,  had  lost  their  influence. 
That  if  wo  put  duties  on  Canadian  products,  they  would  open 
trade  with  the  maritime  provinces,  and  send  them  floar  and 
barley,  and  would  fatten  dwine  on  their  coarse  grains,  instead  of 
our  corn ;  that  they  could  change  the  character  of  t'leir  pro- 
ductions. He  states,  also,  that  Canada  has  been  allowed  by 
Great  Britain  to  come  in  under  the  new  treaty  with  France,  and 
is  increasing  its  trade  with  tho  maritime  provinces  and  foreign 
nations,  from  which  they  now  iaport  three  and  a  quarter  mil- 
lions dollars.  That  our  country  could  not  sustain  high  duties 
on  a  variety  of  imports  without  illicit  trade,  which  might  be 
cli^ckcd  if  Canada  were  friendly ;  but  if  wo  built  a  Chinese  wall 
of  restriction,  if  there  was  to  bo  no  intercourse,  the  United  States 
must  look  after  their  own  frontier. 

That  if  we  did  not  send  them  corn  and  take  barley,  they 
could  distill  the  latter ;  that  the  returns  of  distillation  might  not 
cover  oil  the  spirit,  so  much  was  sent  out  of  the  country,  some 
legally  and  su^'i  illegally.  That  he  and  his  colleagues  thought 
smugglbg  might  bo  chocked  by  a  friendly  spirit  and  the  selec- 
tion of  certain  articles  on  which  duties  might  bo  assimilated, 
and  they  wore  ready  to  moot  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
^tatos  in  a  friendly  spirit  and  listen  to  their  suggestions.  In 
his  very  moderate  return  of  imports  from  the  United  States, 
(114,820,557)  he  sots  vlown  corn  end  coarse  grains,  $1,800,000 ; 
moats,  1870,968  ;  clioeso,  |80(>,618 ;  wool,  $174,071 ;  other  pro- 
ducts of  animals,  $814,599;  fish,  $257,901,  but  gives  no  addi- 
donal  items. 

Wo  ht^vo  thus,  from  official  sources,  the  position  of  Canada 
and  the  views  uf  lior  Government,  and  it  is  apparent  that  she 


BENEFITS  OF  TBEATT. 


25 


has  prospered  under  the  treaty.  From  1861  to  1861  she  has 
increased  her  miles  of  railway  from  twelve  to  nineteen  hundred ; 
she  has  increased  her  wheat  and  oat  crops,  her  wool,  the  value 
of  her  forests  and  wealth  more  than  we  have,  although  she  is 
naturally  inferior  in  climate,  soil  and  position. 

She  has,  by  her  select  conunittee  on  commerce,  appointed  in 
1868,  conceded  that  for  some  years  prior  to  the  Keciprocity 
Treaty  the  grain  of  the  United  States  was  worth  25  per  cent, 
more  than  the  grain  of  Canada,  and  now  in  both  countries  the 
treaty  has  for  ten  years  Jkept  it  at  nearly  the  same  level.  She  is 
disposed  to  build  our  ships  and  take  a  large  part  of  the  coasting 
trade,  and  as  an  inducement  for  such  concession  she  may  possi- 
bly deepen  her  canals,  to  divert  the  trade  of  the  West.  Already 
has  Canada  made  free  ports  on  her  coasts  to  the  extent  of  one 
or  two  thousand  miles  on  the  shores  of  Lake  iluron  and  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  doubtless  to  tempt  our  fishermen  and 
frontiersmen  to  evade  our  duties,  and  now  we  are  told  distinctly 
that  we  must  expect  illicit  trade  if  we  adopt  a  system  of  restric- 
tion. 

The  Committee  of  Congress  on  Commerce,  in  their  report  on 
Reciprocity,  in  February,  1862,  well  suggest  that  in  admitting 
Canada  to  the  commercial  advantages  she  would  enjoy  if  she 
wore  a  State  of  the  Union,  we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  her 
in  return  the  same  commercial  privileges  which  each  State  of 
the  Union  confers  upon  the  others ;  wo  have  given  her  all  those 
privileges  except  those  she  now  desires,  and  which  wo  hesitate  to 
concede  in  consequence  of  her  connection  with  a  great  empire, 
which  declines  to  do  us  justic3.  She  has,  with  those  conceded, 
achieved  great  success,  and  the  question  now  arises,  what  recip- 
rocal privileges  has  bhe  given  us  ? — have  they  proved  to  be  an 
equivalent  for  those  we  havo  conced(jd  ?  The  reports  of  Mr. 
Andrews  and  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  to  which  wo  havo 
referred,  present  many  conclusive  answers  to  this  question. 

Before  the  treaty,  Mr.  Andrews,  in  his  preliminary  report — a 
document  submitted  by  Mr.  Corwin  to  our  Senate — said,  "  that 
it  would  bo  wise  to  place  the  border  trade  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Colonies  on  a  different  basis  and  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  higher  principle,  so  as  to  mature  and  perfect  a  com- 
plete system  of  mutual  exchanges  between  the  dilforeiit  nations 
of  this  vast  continent."    Whilo  the  treaty  was  pending.  Lord 


26 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  THE  TBEATT. 


|l 


'  II 


\i 


Elgin,  the  British  minister  at  Washington,  alleged  that  "  Canada 
had  always  adopted  the  most  liberal  commercial  policy  with 
respect  to  the  United  States,  as  well  in  regard  to  the  commerce 
through  its  canals  as  in  regard  to  the  admission  of  manufac- 
tured goods  coming  from  this  country,  and  if  the  natural  pro- 
duct»  of  that  country  (Canada)  should  be  admitted  duty  free, 
that  Government  would  be  willing  to  carry  out  still  further  the 
same  liberal  policy  already  pursued  towards  the  manufactures 
of  the  United  States."  The  treaty  itself  recited  that  the  parties 
*'were  desirous  so  to  regulate  the  commerce  and  navigation 
between  their  respective  territories  and  people,  and  more  espe- 
cially between  her  Majesty's  possessions  in  North  America  and 
thp  United  States,  in  such  manner  as  to  render  the  same  recip- 
rocally beneficial  and  satisfactory."  ^j 

With  these  intentions,  thus  expressed,  the  treaty  was  exe- 
cuted and  commerce  commenced. 

When  the  treaty  took  effect  by  the  President's  proclamation, 
March  17;  1855,  the  duties  in  Canada  were  very  moderate,  but 
5  per  cent,  on  some  commodities,  and  10  per  cent,  on  others, 
but  12^  per  cent,  on  our  boots,  shoes,  leather,  harnesses,  and 
many  of  our  other  products  ;  but  within  a  year  after  the  treaty 
Canada  began  to  advance  these  duties,  and  by  1859  had  raised 
them  62J  per  cent,  on  one  class,  and  100  per  cent,  on  another, 
embracing  our  chief  manufactures,  and  most  of  them  were  thus 
excluded  and  the  sale  of  others  reduced. 

The  Committee  of  Congress  on  Commerce  in  1862  complained 
in  tlicir  report  that  the  duties  levied  on  our  manufactures  and 
other  products  had  checked  their  exportation  from  the  United 
States  to  Canada,  that  our  conuncrce  with  that  country  reached 
its  height  in  1856  and  then  began  to  decline  with  the  advance 
of  duties,  that  our  exports  which  paid  duties  to  Canada  declined 
from  $7,981,284  in  1866,  the  year  after  the  treaty  was  adopted, 
to  $4,197,816  in  1860,  a  decline  of  47  per  cent,  in  four  years 
only,  while  the  whole  amount  of  our  Canadian  commerce 
declined  25  jjcr  cent,  from  1856,  when  the  duties  wore  low, 
to  1862  when  they  were  high.  The  committee  suggest  that  if 
Cana'la  required  more  revenue,  her  attempt  to  raise  it  by  new 
duties  on  our  manufactures  was  a  failure.  It  effected  nothing 
but  their  exclusion.  The  committee  in  this  connection  draw 
attention  to  tho  fact  that  while  Canada  urges  that  she  was 


)  I 


FBEE  PORTS. 


27 


tplaiDcd 
res  and 
United 
cached 
dvanco 
eclined 
doptod, 
years 
nmerce 
0  low, 
that  if 
jy  new 
liothing 
11  draw 
10  was 


obliged  to  raise  duties  for  revenue,  she  has  established  two  great 
free  ports — the  port  of  Gaspe  on  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lf  ,wrence,  with 
a  frontage  of  1,200  miles  on  shores  frequented  by  our  fisher- 
men, and  another  extending  for  1,000  miles  from  the  Sault  St. 
Mary,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior,  along  the  shores  of  Huron 
and  Superior,  where  our  settlers  and  seamen  engaged  in  the 
growing  transportation  of  the  lakes  may  be  tempted  to  buy 
goods  and  evade  our  duties.  If  legitimate  trade  be  the  object 
of  Canada,  she  should  reduce  her  duties,  when  they  diminish 
revenue,  and  if  fair  reciprocal  trade  is  desired,  should  she  tempt 
our  mariners,  miners  and  settlers  to  evade  our  duties,  and  com- 
pel us  to  establish  ports  and  custom  houses  at  great  expense 
upon  a  long  frontier  ?  . 

If  Great  Britain  maintains  Gibraltar  to  extend  her  trade  on 
the  coast  of  Spain,  must  wo  have  a  Gibraltar  on  our  frontiers 
also? 

Our  committee  complain  of  the  change  from  specific  to  ad 
valorem  duties  on  foreign  goods,  which  are  based  on  prime  cost 
in  gold,  if  they  come  by  the  St.  Lawrence  or  by  the  Grand 
Trunk  a  British  Railway,  but  are  assessed  on  cost,  freight, 
and  charges  if  not  prices  in  currency  if  they  come  via  Boston  or 
New  York.  This  the  committee  deem  an  evasion  of  the 
treaty.  They  complain  also  of  discriminating  tolls  on  the 
Welland  Canal,  by  which  goods  destined  via  Oswego  and  Ogdens- 
burg  for  New  York  or  Boston  pay  tenfold  the  tolls  required  on 
goods  diverted  from  our  ports  to  Quebec  or  Montreal.  They 
cite  the  reports  of  Messrs.  Hatch  ir,  Taylor  to  our  Treasury 
Department,  in  which  they  favor  the  extension  of  free  trade. 
They  refer  to  the  trade  with  the  maritime  Provinces  under  their 
system  of  low  duties  as  more  satisfactory. than  that  of  Canada, 
and  come  to  the  conclusion,  at  which  the  legislature  of  New 
York  had  previously  arrived  and  set  forth  in  their  Resolves  now 
on  file  i*t  Washington,  that  "  the  legislation  of  Canada  subse- 
quent to  tlio  treaty,  was  subversive  of  its  true  intent  and  mean- 
ing, and  tliat  an  isolating  and  exclusive  policy  hp.d  been  adopted, 
intended  to  destroy  the  natural  effect  of  the  treaty  by  heavy 
duties  on  the  products  the  United  States  have  to  sell,  and  by 
discriminating  duties  and  tolls  imposed  to  exclude  the  United 
States  from  Canadian  markets."  Our  Committee  on  Commerce 
conclude  with  a  full  recognition  of  the  benefits  which  would 


28 


CANADIAN  HINISmT. 


i| 


'111 


flow  from  a  just  treaty  and  extended  system  of  free  trade 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Provinces,  by  which  reci- 
procity would  be  not  merely  a  name  but  a  substance  on  the 
whole  frontier,  and  as  a  substitute  for  the  treaty  recommend 
the  Zollverein,  under  which  more  than  thirty-six  millions  of  Ger- 
mans freely  interchange  their  commodities  and  divide  foreign 
duties,  while  nearly  as  many  Austrians  are  included  under  a 
more  limited  system. 

The  efficient  minister  of  finance,  who  is  very  naturally  on 
the  alert  when  this  treaty  is  discussed,  reviews  the  action  of  our 
committee  in  a  statement  to  the  Canadian  Parliament  in  March, 
1862.  He  concedes  most  of  the  facts  found  by  our  committee, 
but  endtavors  to  weaken  their  force  and  sustain  the  treaty.  Ho 
urges  that  Canada,  like  the  United  Stat(is,  was  obliged  to  raise 
her  duties,  but  apparently  forgets  that  our  rise  did  not  a£fect 
the  great  exports  of  Canada. 

He  clings  to  the  letter  without  regard  to  the  spirit  of  the 
treaty  shown  in  its  preamble,  and  does  not  refer  to  the  assur- 
ances given  by  Mr.  Andrews,  its  chief  author,  and  by  the  British 
minister  and  the  officers  of  Canada,  when  the  treaty  was 
pending. 

It  is  fresh  in  my  memory  that  when  invited  to  favor  the 
treaty  I  declined  to  do  so,  because  the  programme  of  the  treaty 
did  not  expressly  authorize  us  to  buy  the  staples  of  Canada  with 
the  products  of  New  England,  but  it  is  now  apparent  that  this 
was  a  dangerous  omission  and  that  Canada  has  not  redeemed 
her  pledges.  The  minister  of  finance  urges  that  Canadian 
duties  are  not  as  high  as  our  own,  but  a  duty  of  20  oi*  25  per 
cent,  is  too  high  if  it  excludes  our  manufactures.  The  duty  on 
pur  clocks  at  Liverpool  and  on  our  drills  at  Calcutta  were  not 
higher,  but  they  were  just  high  enough  to  efiect  tho  purpose  of 
Great  Britain,  the  exclusion  of  the  fabrics  of  the  United  States. 
Tho  minister  urges  that  tho  free  ports  of  Gaspe  and  Sault  St. 
Mary  are  to  encourage  the  settlers ;  but  the  few  settlers  on  these 
desert  coasts  re  ^airo  no  such  stimulus,  and  Canada  in  establish- 
ing them  pays  no  respect  to  tho  groat  maxim  of  tho  law — Sic 
utere  tuo  ut  alienum  non  kedas — while  benefiting  by  a  treaty 
whoso  express  object  was  to  make  tho  trade  beneficial  to  both 
parties.  Ho  admits  that  the  discriminating  tolls  and  duties 
havo  been  imposed  and  claims  the  right  to  impose  them.    Ho 


IMPOmrATIONS  BY  THE  ST.  LAWRENCE.  29 

owns  his  object  to  be  to  promote  the  direct  trade  hj  the  St. 
Lawrence  by  such  measures,  and  avers  that  he  has  done  so.  He 
conceives  this  to  be  a  laudable  object  and  submits  a  table  to 
show  how  large  a  proportion  of  the  importations  of  Canada, 
many  of  which  formerly  came  through  the  States,  now  come  via 
the  St.  Lawrence. 


Extract  from  the  Table  of  the  Minister  of  Finance. 
Importation  of  Leading  Articles  into  (hntida  in  1861. 


« 

Wliole  am't  Imported 
Into  the  ProTince. 

Proportion  Imported 
Tto  the  8k  Lawrence. 

Cotton  goods 

Earthen  and  glass  ware,     . 
Fancy  goods,      .        .       ^.-li. 
Iron  and  hardware,    '^i:»:fm^i^bib.- .i> 
Silks,  satins  and  velvets,  ^^:;^;^*!       • 
Woollens,  .       .      ,w^  .^at^vysia* 

•5,600,000 
618,896 
328,801 

2,851,014 
921,152 

4,271,276 

•5,123,076 
427,788 

245,419 
1,943,308 

875,195 
4,003,077 

Total,.       .       .       .       .       . 

< 

•14,681,506 

•12,617,928 

The  minister  of  finance  thus  demonstrates  that  eighty-six 
per  cent,  of  this  merchandise  enters  Canada  via  the  gates  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  leaving  but  fourteen  per  cent,  for  New  York, 
Boston,  and  for  American  vessels,  canal  boats  and  railways.  It 
is  his  province  to  conciliate  Montreal  and  Quebec  and  propitiate 
Great  Britain. 

His  duties  are  arduous  and  conflicting.  For  the  seaports  of 
Canada  he  must  attract  the  breadstuffs  of  the  West,  to  give 
freights  to  their  shipping  and  commissions  to  their  merchants  ; 
for  them  he  must  seek  outlets  to  France,  the  maritime  Prov- 
inces, Brazil  and  West  Indies.  With  respect  to  Great  Britain, 
whoso  subjects  have  little  respect  for  custom-houses  or  block- 
ades, he  can  present  free  ports  on  groat  highways  and  duties  dis- 
criminating in  their  favor.  To  satisfy  the  Upper  Province  and 
to  give  value  to  forests  and  agriculture,  he  must  command  the 
home  market  of  the  United  States.  If  we  will  give  him  the 
coasting  trade,  he  will  deepen  the  canals  and  take  the  direct 
trade  also 


30 


COASTINa  TRADE. 


tm 


He  will  accomplish  three  objects  if  he  can  secure  the  coasting 
trade,  and  the  direct  trade  and  the  home  market  by  a  single 
blow,  but  the  coasting  trade  is  not  to  be  conceded  and  we  must 
compete  for  the  direct  trade  also.  In  his  statement  to  Parlia- 
ment he  protests  against  a  Zollveroin  which  would  sever  Canada 
from  Great  Britain  and  cut  off  her  imports  from  the  British 
Isles.  He  expresses  a  disposition  to  enlarge  the  free  list,  by 
adding  books,  .implements,  wooden  ware  and  machinery,  and 
would  extend  the  system  of  free  trade  if  such  measures  become 
necessary  to  preserve  the  treaty.  He  is  ready  to  negotiate  for 
its  preservation,  for  he  has  much  to  lose,  while  there  is  reason  to 
apprehend  that  we  may  struggle  to  revive  our  commerce  and 
may  ask  equivalents  for  the  future  in  a  new  negotiation. 

Wo  have  thus  examined  the  progress,  commerce  and  policy  of 
Oanada,  and  find  that  she  has  grown  rapidly  in  trade,  wealth 
and  population,  that  her  annual  commerce  with  us  is  fourfold 
its  amo  ant  before  the  treaty ;  that  she  has  not  thus  far  redeemed 
the  pledges  given  for  her  by  Lord  Elgin,  the  British  minister,  to 
favor  our  productions,  but  has  checked  their  importation  without 
benefit  to  her  own,  for  she  still  devotes  herself  chiefly  to  her 
forests  and  agriculture,  canals  and  railways ;  she  has  diverted 
some  trade  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  established,  some  free  ports, 
and  expanded  her  whole  commerce  to  $87,000,000  in  1865,  of 
which  $50,000,000  are  with  the  United  States.  We  find  that 
her  exports  oS  produce  to  us  exceed  her  imports,  that  some  shares 
and  probably  some  bonds  have  flowed  into  Canada  while  a 
counter  current  has  flowed  into  the  States  from  the  maritime 
Provinces. 

But  if  the  treaty  has  been  a  boon  to  Canada  have  we  not  also 
derived  some  benefits  from  a  commerce  of  fifty  millions,  three- 
fifths  of  which  consist  of  articles  of  food  and  materials  for 
manufacture  ? 

Are  we  not  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  treaty  has  brought 
to  us  some  blessings  in  its  train  ?  Has  not  our  tonnage  in  this 
trade  wonderfully  increased,  and  does  it  not  still  maintain  its 
ascendancy  ?  If  our  imports  from  Canada  have  exceeded  our 
exports,  have  not  those  imports  ministered  to  our  wants  and 
swelled  our  exports  in  the  most  trying  periods  of  our  four  years' 
struggle  ?  If  we  have  imported  horses  and  oats  and  live  stock, 
have  they  not  mounted  and  fed  our  cavalry  and  horsed  our 


BENEFITS  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


m 


'I 


artillery,  and  aided  Sheridan  in  his  last  campaigns  ;  and  if  we 
have  sent  a  balance  of  two  or  three  millions  of  specie  to  Canada 
beyond  what  we  receive  from  the  maritime  Provinces,  are  we  to 
send  the  products  of  our  mines,  one  of  our  chief  exports,  to 
England  only? 

If  Frederick  the  Great  was  able  successfully  to  contend  for 
seven  years  with  Austria,  France,  and  finally  with  Russia,  by 
the  supplies  he  drew  from  Silesia  and  Saxony,  have  not  the 
Provinces  contributed  something  to  our  success,  and  have  we  not 
some  pensions  to  pay  in  the  Provinces  ? 

If  our  exports  have  diminished,  a  part  of  the  diminution 
must  be  ascribed  to  our  currency  and  the  derangement  of  our 
trade.  Are  we  not  for  the  moment  obliged  to  pay  in  our  own 
markets  three  or  four  profits :  first,  the  legitimate  profit ;  second, 
a  profit  to  cover  the  risk  of  a  decline  of  value  to  spiBcie  prices ; 
third,  a  profit  to  cover  increased  cost  of  living ;  and  often  a 
fourth,  from  the  insufficient  supply  caused  by  the  fear  of  pro- 
ducers to  enlarge  their  works  wlJle  labor  and  materials  are 
above  their  true  value ;  and  shall  we  not  pfbduce  more  cheaply 
and  change  this  as  we  return  to  specie  ? 

If  there  are  Oiiissions  of  our  productions  in  the  treaty,  is 
Canada  to  blame  for  them,  if  she  has  conformed  to  the  letter  of 
the  treaty,  and  may  they  not  have  been  made  with  a  wise 
forecast  by  Mr.  Marcy  ? 

■  If  the  Provinces  have  sent  us  coal,  wool,  timber  and  rags, 
which  last  Canada  classes  among  her  manufactures,  have  they 
not  given  a  stimulus  to  our  industry,  and  if  she  has  refused  our 
return  freight  has  not  that  diminished  the  net  return  upon  her 
exports  ?  And  will  she  be  less  friendly  and  less  interested  in 
our  progress  if  she  holds  a  few  of  our  bonds  ?  Will  they  not 
be  bonds  of  amity  between  us  ? 

And  now  if  she  has  drawn  capital  from  Europe,  built  her 
canals  and  railways  and  connected  th^m  with  our  own,  and  is 
able  to  construct  more  for  the  trade  of  both  countries  ;  if  she 
has  to-day  a  small  surplus  revenue  and  is  able  and  willing  to 
transfer  some  of  her  duties  from  our  manufactures  to  foreign 
luxuries  and  to  discourage  illicit  trade ;  if  she  is  willing  to 
make  the  terms  of  a  new  treaty  more  beneficial  than  those  of 
the  last,  is  it  our  true  policy  to  withdraw  into  our  shell  and 
refuse  to  listen  to  her  overtures  ?  >    -  /  a 


82 


EXPORTS  AND  IMPORTS  OF  THB  MARITIME  PROVINCES. 


7     1 


Maritimb  Provinces  op  Great  Britain. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  seacoast  and  turn  from  Oanada  to 
bur  commerce  with  the  maritime  Provinces. 

Our  intercourse  with  these  Colonies  is  annually  increasing. 
They  send  to  us  large  supplies  of  coal,  lumber,  fuel,  gypsum, 
grindstones,  fish  and  products  of  the  fisheries,  and  receive  in 
payment  our  breadstuffs,  some  manufactures,  and  some  foreign 
goods.  The  goods  we  export  are  more  valuable  than  those  we 
receive,  and  for  several  years  before  the  treaty  our  exports 
averaged  in  value  more  than  twice  the  value  of  out*  imports. 
This  disparity  has  been  reduced,  but  still  the  balance  of  trade  is 
in  our  favor  and  is  realiised  in  part  from  drafts  on  England  for 
the  proceeds  of  ships  built  in  the  Colonies  and  remittances  in 
gold,  and  our  citizens  are  engaged  to  a  considerable  extent  in 
opening  coal  and  gold  ipines  in  these  Provinces. 

Tmports  and  Uxportt  of  British  Maritrne  Provinces  of  Nova  Scotia, 
Hew  Brunswick,'  Newfoundland  and  Prince   Edwards  Island,  in     i 
Commerce  with  the^United  States.  .  V 


DATE. 

Export!  to  above 
Maritime  Provlneca. 

Import!. 

Aggregate!. 

1850,     .          .          . 

13,116,840  00 

91,358,922  00 

$4,475,832  00 

1851,    . 

8,224,553  00 

1,786,650  00 

4,061,203  00 

1852,    . 

2,650,184  00 

1,520,830  00 

4,170,404  00 

1853,    . 

3,398,576  00 

2,672,602  00 

6,071,177  00 

1854,    .        .       . 

4,698,771  00 

2,206,021  00 

6,899,792  00 

1856,    .        .        . 

5,855,878  00 

2,954,420  00 

8,810,298  00 

1856,    .       .       . 

7,519,909  00 

3,222,224  00 

10,742,133  00 

1867,    .       .       . 

6,911,406  00 

3,832,462  00 

10,743,867  00 

1858,    .       .       . 

5,976,494  00 

4,224,948  00 

10,200,442  00 

1869,    .       .       . 

8,829,960  00 

6,518,834  00 

13,848,794  00 

1860,    .       .       . 

7,602,839  00 

4,989,708  00 

12,392,647  00 

1861,    .       .       . 

7,188,784  00 

4,417,476  00 

11,561,210  00 

1862,    .       .       . 

7,369,906  00 

4,046,843  00 

11,416,748  00 

1868,    .       .       . 

10,198,606  00 

6,207,421  00 

16,405,929  00 

1864,    .       .       . 

12,323,718  00 

7,947,897  00 

20,276,616  00 

At  least  ten  per  cent,  should  bo  added  to  these  imports,  as  the 
Provincial  manifests  usually  underrate  the  amount  of  ship- 
ments from  the  Provinces,  to  that  extent. 


NOVA  SCOTIA  COMUEBOB. 


The  tonnage  of  the  vessels  in  the  trade  with  these  Provinces 
arriving  in  the  United  States  and  clearing  therefrom,  in  the  ye. 
1864,  exhibits  an  amount  of  more  than  1,600,000  tons,  and 
their  commerce  with  the  United  States  during  that  year,  as 
shown  by  exports  and  imports,  was  two-fifths  of  the  amouut  of 
our  average  trade  with  Canada,  while  their  population  already 
given  is  less  than  one-third  that  of  Canada.  The  vessels  owned 
by  these  Provinces  exceed  five  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons. 
Were  these  vessels  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  British  marine  and 
added  to  our  own,  we  should  resume  our  maritime  supremacy, 
notwithstanding  the  reduction  of  more  than  a  million  of  tons, 
by  sales  and  losses,  by  the  depredations  of  the  Alabama,  Sea 
King  and  other  cruisers.  The  extensive  coasts,  navigation  and 
fisheries  of  these  Colonies,  make  their  inhabitants  familiar  with 
the  sea  and  they  can  furnish  at  least  80,000  seamen. 

We  have  considered  them  in  the  aggregate,  but  let  us  now 
glance  at  them  in  detail  and  examine  their  revenue  and 
commerce. 

Nova  Scotia.      * 

This  Province,  within  one  day's  run  of  Boston,  with  its  capital, 
Halifax,  a  great,  naval  station,  with  the  coal  mines  of  Cape 
Breton  annexed,  and  prosperous,  to  say  nothing  of  recently 
discovered  gold  mines,  is  the  most  important  of  these  maritime 
Provinces. 

In  1862,  Its  tonnage  was         .  -       .        .       .     277,708  tons. 

Imports,    .        .        .        .        i        .    18,450,042  00 

Exports,    .        .        .        .        .        .     6,646,461  00 

Revenue,  .        .     *  .        .        .        .        780,000  00 

Its  seamen  employed  in  the  fisheries,  were  in  1861, 14,522^ 
which  is  four  per  cent,  of  its  entire  population  of  830,857. 

The  growth  of  its  population  from  1851  to  1861,  has  been 
19^^  per  cent. 

The  progress  of  its  fisheries  has  been  as  follows : 

VMMli.  BMtoi  Man. 

1851, 812   6,161   10,394 

1861,   .....    900   8,816   14,822 


the 
ship- 


Increase  of  men,  88  per  cent. 


88        8,656         8,928 


84 


FISHERIES. 


II 


The  fish  taken  in  its  fisheries,  were-— 
In  1851,  mackerel,   100,047    bbls. ;    herring,    153,200  bbls.   * 
.     1861,         «  66,108      «  «  194,170     " 

The  vessels  built  in  this  Province,  were,  in 
1868,    ........   16,3^6  tons.^ 

1861, .        .        .   23,634    « 

Our  merchants  who  are  engaged  in  the  trade  with  Nova 
Scotia,  and  other  British  Provinces,  complain  of  the  charges  for 
lights  and  pilotage,  and  represent  that  owing  to  the  standard  of 
measurement  adopted  in  the  Provinces,  our  vessels,  in  propor- 
tion to  their  capacity,  are  expected  to  pay  more  than  the  Provin- 
cial vessels ;  that  the  packets  and  other  small  vessels,  which  run 
frequently  from  New  England  and  New  York  to  Provincial  ports, 
require  no  pilots,  but  are  obliged  to  pay  for  them.  And  that 
each  of  our  vessels  is  required  to  pay  light  dues  for  a  year  in 
the  Provincial  ports,  although  it  may  make  but  a  single 
voyage.  's    ^  \ 

In  our  ports,  no  charge  for  lights  is  exacted,  and  it  is  just 
that  this  be  reciprocated,  and  that  no  charge  be  made  for  pilot- 
age to  regular  packets,  and  no  clwge  for  anchorage  or  trans- 
shipment to  our  fishermen.  A  portion  of  the  shipping  of  Nova 
Scotki,  is  held  by  citizens  of  the  Provinces,  on  American  account, 
under  the  British  flag,  and  intelligent  merchants  compute  that 
©ne-seventh  of  the  tonnage  of  the  Provinces,  is  thus  held  for 
our  countrymen.  It  is  not  improbable  that  several  hundred 
thousand  tons  of  United  States  shipping,  have,  during  the  war 
been  registered  in  Great  Britain 'and  her  Colonies,  to  reduce 
msurance,  in  addition  to  all  that  have  been  sold,  and  I  would 
respectfully  suggest  to  the  Department,  the  policy  of  passing  a  , 
special  Act,  allowing  vesp  Is  that  have  been  thus  registered,  to 
be  registered  again  in  tiyj  ports  of  the  United  States,  upon  , 
paying  a  moderate  dulr,  to  be  applied  to  the  benefit  of  the 
orphans  and  widows  of  those  who  defended  our  flag.  This 
would  do  no  injustice  to  our  ship-builders,  and  would  take  from 
rthe  roll  of  England  and  restore  to  our  own,  a  part  of  the  ton- 
.nage  of  which  her  cruisers  have  deprived  our  nation.  Would 
it  be  well  to  exclude  .such  vessels  and  compel  the  owners  to 
.sell  at.  low  rates  to  the  English,  or  risk  tlieir  property  ? 


/ 


NEW  BRUNSWICK. 


35 


The  average  of  duties  in  Nova  Scotia  is  not  far  from  10  per  cent. 

The  coal  mines  of  Nova  Scotia  now  produce  about  half  a 
million  of  tons  annually.  Two  at  Pictou  and  Sydney  are  held 
by  an  English  company.  The  others,  producing  nearly  half  the 
coal,  are  held  principally  by  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
.  Several  valuable  gold  mines,  in  which  the  quartz  veins  yield 
from  2  to  11  ounces  per  ton,  are  w6rkcd  in  this  Province  by 
citizens  of  the  Uhited  States ;  some  have  become  profitable  and 
a  half  of  one  has  been  recently  sold  for  $500,000. 

New  Brunswick. 

This  Province  is  but  an  extension  of  the  State  of  Maine,  along 
the  Bay  of  Fundy. 


In  1862  its  Exports  were 

Exports  to  United  States, 
Imports,      .  .        .        .        . 
Imports  from  United  States,  . 
Revenue,       .        .        .        , 

In  1860  its  vessels  built 

Tonnage,       .        .      *  . 
Population,   . 


$3,846,538  00 

889,416  00 

6,199,701  00 

2,690,703  00 

668,197  00 


158,240     " 


41,003  tons. 

to    " 

252,047 

The  ships  built  and  sold  nearly  sufficed,  to  make  up  th^  diflfer- 
ence,  between  exports  and  imports. 

The  duties  in  New  Brunswick,  average  less  than  16  per  cent.* 

Until  a  recent  period  there  has  been  in  this  Colony  a  strong 
opposition  to  the  union  of  the  Provinces  under  one  govern- 
ment. But  this  Province  has  been  conciliated  by  a  promise 
that  it  may  draw  for  the  general  revenue  a  sum  which  will 
exceed  $200,000  annually,  for  a  contract  to  aid  a  railway  from 
the  St.  John  River,  to  the  lino  of  Maine,  to  meet  one  from 
Bangor,  one  of  the  two  links  that  remain  to  complete  the  chain 
from  Halifax  to  Kansas  and  Texas. 

The  Province  has  agreed  to  advance  $10,000  a  mile  to  aid  this 
lino  as  it  passes  through  New  Brunswick.  It  has  also  a  mine  of 
albertine,  rich  in  mineral  oil,  which  yields  annually  15,000  to 
20,000  tons  and  returns  very  large  profits.  This  is  held  by  our 
citizens. 

*  Letter  of  E.  Allison,  Esq.,  Nor.  16, 1865.       u     . 


te 


PRINCE  EDWARDS  ISLANC  A¥fD  NEWFOUNDLAND. 


ly. 


Prince  Edwards  Island.  -^ 

This  fertile  island  derives  importance  from  its  harbors  and 
position  on  the  borders  of  the  fishery  for  mackerel.  The  fleets 
of  fishermen  take  in  its  vici;;ity  a  large  proportion  of  their  best 
fish;  and  if  the  United  States  should  secure  nothing  else  beyond 
the  rights  retained  under  the  convention  of  1818,  the  right  to 
fish  close  to  its  shores,  would  be  of  great  importance  to  our 
fisheries.  A  line  of  steamers  is  now  established  between  this 
island  and  Boston,  and  large  importations  of  fish  and  oats  are 
made  from  it  annually. 


In  1861  its  Population  was 

Imports, 

Exports, 
Vessels  built,  8,045  tons,  value, 


80,657 

$1,046,750  00 

815,570  00 

216,600  00 


I 


Twenty-five  yeaxs  since  a  single  schooner  could  have  trans- 
ported all  the  goods,  passing  between  this  fertile  island  and  the 
United  States,  but  now  two  steam  packets  run  between  it  and 
Boston,  making  frequent  passages  through  the  Gut  of  Ganso. 
Large  shipments  of  oats  and  other  produce  are  made  to  Boston 
and  New  York,  and  many  products  interchanged,  and  large 
supplies  furnished  our  fishermen.  At  least  half  the  crop  of 
oats  is  shipped  to  Englrnd,  and  were  wo  to  impose  heavy 
duties  on  them,  the  whole  surplus  of  the  Province  would  proba- 
bly take  that  direction  to  the  injury  of  our  trade. 

Doubtless,  any  considerable  duties  on  oats  and  barley  would 
send  a  large  portion  of  those  crops  from  Canada  to  Great  Britain, 
under  the  decline  of  prices  that  would  attend  these  great  staples 
of  Canada. 

This  fertile  island  was  settled  by  the  French,  as  a  garden  for 
their  great  fortress  at  Louisburg. 

Duties  10  per  cent. 


*  V 


Newfoundland. 

This  Province  has  a  sterile  soi}  and  brief,  cloudy  summer,  but 
has  for  centuries  been  renowned  foi  its  fisheries,  which  comprise 
the  cod,  seal,  salmon,  herring  and  mackerel,  although  the  two 
first  are  the  principal. 


W-' 


^iftA^m   vancouvee's  island. 


H^'^- 


nd 
ets 
est 
►nd  * 
to    . 
Dur 
bhis 
are 


,557 
I  00 
I  00 

)  00 

•ans- 

Ithe 
and 

mso. 

tston 
arge 
p  of 
eavy 
iba- 


for 


but 

mse 

two. 


Near  its  coast  lie  the  Grand  Banks,  enveloped  in  almost  cease- 
less fogs,  xxom  the  evaporation  caused  by  the  confluence  of  the 
Gulf  Stream  with  the  icebergs  and  ice  currents  of  the  north. 
Here  cod  abound  in  water  30  to  50  fathoms  deep,  on  a  bottom 
abounding  in  shellfish  and  frequented  by  small  fish  in  great 
abundance.  God  are  taken  from  boats  near  the  shore,  and 
herrings,  early  in  the  year  are  taken  in  vast  numbers  in  seines, 
and  many  vessels  load  with  them  as  bait  for  our  fishermen. 

In  1862  the  Imports  were      .        .        .        .      ^4,028,000  00 


4,684,000  00 

87,000 

$452,000  00 

122,638 


Exports,  . 
Tonnage,  . 
Revenue,  . 
Population, 

As  early  as  1517,  50  sail  of  vessels  fished  on  the  banks. 
Duties  10  per  cent. 

Vancouver's  Island. 

This  large  and  fertile  island,  with  a  soil  and  climate  resem- 
bling that  of  Ireland,  is  situated  opposite  British  Columbia.  It 
has  become  the  chief  naval  station  of  England  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  occupies  a  position  on  that  coast  with  reference  to 
California,  like  that  Nova  Scotia  holds  on  the  Atlantic,  with 
reference  to  the  States  of  New  England.  Its  chief  city  is  Vic- 
toria, near  the  spacious  harbor  of  Esquimault,  and  the  principal 
imports  from  British  Columbia,  and  the  exports  of  its  gold,  are 
made  from  this  city. 

In  Barclay  Sound,  a  London  firm  manufactures  annually,  20 
million  feet  of  timber ;  and  in  1863,  22,000  tons  of  coal  were 
sent  to  California  from  valuable  coal  mines  of  Nanaimo. 

In  1868,  the  exports  from  Victoria  to  our  States 
on  the  Pacific,  were      .        .        •        .        . 

Imports — 

From  our  Pacific  States, 

England, 

Sandwich  Islands, 

other  places  on  Pacific  Ocean,  . 


Tonnage  entered  and  cleared,  . 


$2,985,170  10 

$2,280,601  00 

1,482,521  00 

118,486  00 

101,294  00 

$8,877,802  00 

.      98,182 


I 


I 

Hi 


I 


I    i' 


88 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA  AND  BRITISH   FISHERIES. 


yi'Ssii^^iliV'V-'Vf 


"  British  Columbia. 
The  chief  settlements  and  mines  of  this  territory  are  in  the 
vicinity  of  Frazer's  River.  For  climate  and  soil  it  compares 
favorably  with  Scotland,  and  with  respect  to  fisheries,  the  rivers 
and  outlets  supply  abundance  of  salmon.  Its  revenue,  drawn 
principally  from  mines,  annually  exceeds  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

The  British  Provincial  Fisheries. 
It  is  important  for  our  government,  when  adjusting  a  treaty 
which  bears  on  our  fisheries,  to  learn  what  encouragement  is 
given  by  other  nations  to  their  fisheries  in  the  same  waters. 
Great  Britain  for  many  years  paid  large  bounties  to  her  fisher- 
men, but  of  late  years  has  substituted  for  them  what  is  more 
beneficial, — a  system  of  light  duties.    The  colonists  of  Great 
Britain  enjoy  great  natural  advantages.    The  fish  are  upon  their 
coasts.    Without  loss  of  time  or  long  voyages,  like  those  made 
by  the  mariners  of  Franco  and  the  United  States,  t/vov  :  j; 
pursue  their  avocations  upon  their  farms;  and  wheu  wind, 
weather  and  fish  invite,  can  launch  their  small  boats  from  the 
shore,  and  return  weekly  and  often  daily  to  their  families,  and 
dry  or  pack  their  fish  upon  their  own  land.    Great  Britain  has 
established  ports  for  free  trade  upon  their  coasts,  and  duties  less 
than  one-fourth  of  those  we  have  been  compelled  to  impose. 

Remissions,  low  duties  and  natural  advantages  confer  benefits 
on  the  Provincial  of  twice  the  amount  of  the  bounty  of  $4  per 
ton  which  the  United  States  grant  to  our  fisheries  to  educate 
mariners. 

The  best  estimate  of  the  product  of  these  Provincial  fisheries 
which  I  find  accessible,  is  the  report  of  Arthur  Harvey  Esq., 
statistical  clerk  in  the  finance  department,  Quebec.    It  is  based 
upon  the  census  tables  of  the  several  Provinces  for  1800  and 
1801. 

■}':■■       Value  of  Fish  caughtylSQO. 
Newfoundland  (principally  cod,) 
Nove  Scotia  (cod,  mackerel,  herring,) 
New  Brunswick  (cod,  muckoiH)!,  herring,  ale- 
wives  and  "linko,)    ...... 

Prince  Edwards  Island  (cod,  herring,  mackerel,) 
Canada  estimate,  ' 


$4,440,000  00 
2,602,000  00 

888,385  00 
272,582  00 
700,000  00 


$8,862,917  00 


FRENCH   FISHERIES. 


89 


Theso  fisheries  are  gradually  increasing.  The  duty  on  most 
articles  used  in  this  fishery  is  but  one  per  cent. 

The  French  Fisheries.  .       .  , 

France,  two  centuries  since,  held  Acadia,  and  controlled  New- 
foundland. Her  great  object  was  to  secure  the  fisheries,  which 
she  considered"  a  nursery  of  seamen,  and  essential  to  her  power. 
To  insure  their  safety  she  expended  five  millions  of  dollars  upon 
Louisburg ;  and  her  fisheries  more  than  a  century  since  were 
estiiuatod  to  produce  one  million  quintals  annually. 

On  the  20th  of  December,  1850,  when  the  law  which  granted 
bounties  to  the  sea  fisheries  was  expiring,  the  French  Ministers 
of  Marino  and  Colonies  submitted  a  report  to  the  National 
Assembly,  in  which  they  gave  the  statistics  of  the  cod-fishery, 
and  stated  that  the  average  number  of  seamen  engaged  in  tfiem 
from  1841  to  1850  was  11,500,  and  the  average  bounty  paid 
annually  was  $780,000,  jor  3,900,000  francs,  equivalent  to 
f  GT^j/'jj  for  each  seaman ;  and  that  Franco  trains  up  in  this 
manner  able  and  hardy  seamen  for  her  navy,  who  would  cost 
the  nation  much  more  if  they  were  trained  to  the  sea  on  ships 
of  war. 

Their  statements,  accompanied  by  a  draft  of  a  law  to  renew 
the  bounties,  were  referred  to  a  commission  ;  and  its  chairman, 
May  3, 1851,  made  a  report  in  which  he  states  that  the  commis- 
sion had  examined  delegates  from  all  the  ports  engaged  'n  the 
fisheries,  with  the  papers  of  a  former  commission,  and  those  of 
the  Council  of  State  ;  and,  in  coixurrence  with  the  Directors  of 
the  Customs  and  the  Ministers  of  Marine  and  Commerce, 
reports :  "That  the  intervention  of  the  State  in  the  form  of  aids 
and  bounties  can  bo  justified  only  by  considerations  of  general 
and  public  iuiorcst ; "  that  such  industrial  employments  as  can 
prosper  at  tho  expense  of  the  public  treasury  only  should  not 
exist ;  that  although  tho  industry  exerted  in  tho  fisheries  and 
tho  commercial  activity  that  resulted  from  it  gave  employment 
to  a  largo  class  of  peoi)lo,  this  was  a  secondary  consideration ; 
that  tho  encouragement  given  to  tho  great  fisheries  was  not  an 
exclusive  protection  or  favor  to  any  one  form  of  industry  ;  that 
tho  law  they  had  tho  honor  to  i)roposo  was  not  a  commercial  but 
a  maritimo  law,  conceived  for  tho  advancement  of  the  naval 
power  of  tho  State  ;  that  Franco,  situate  on  three  of  tho  most 


V 


4l|i  FRENCH  BOUNTIES.  ^ 

important  seas  of  Europe,  n-ust  continue  a  maritime  power ; 
that  treaties  wliich  had  become  inevitable  had  robbed  her  of  her 
colonies ;  that  coal  belongs  to  the  English,  and  cotton  to  the 
Americans ;  and  the  shipments  of  sugar  were  growing  less  and 
less.  ^ 

The  great  fisheries  still  remain ;  on  them  repose  our  hopes  ; 
and  to  preserve  them  wo  must  continue  the  encouragement  we 
have  given  them,  even  at  periods  when  commercial  and  colonial 
prosperity  infinitely  superior  to  that  now  existing  multiplied  our 
shipping  a^d  furnished  abundance  of  seamen.  That  the  fisher- 
ies gave  employment  to  a  great  number  of  men,  whom  a  labori- 
ous navigation,  under  climates  of  extreme  rigor,  rapidly  formed 
to  the  profession  of  the  sea. 

No  school  can  compare  with  it  in  preparing  so  many  and  so 
welJ  'xT  the  services  of  the  navy.  That  if  the  bounties  on 
expOi.^  Av  vere  stopped,  an  insignificant  number  of  vessels 
would  L.  juippcd ;  that  the  annual  returns  averaged  forty- 
four  millions  kilogrammes  of  dry  fish  (or  one  million  quintals,) 
of  which  three-eights  wore  exported  under  bounties  "  on  expor- 
tation." The  law  continues  the  bounty  of  50  francs,  or  |10  per 
man,  engaged  in  the  deep  sea  fisheries  and  establishes  a  bounty 
of  20  francs  or  $4  for  each  French  quintal  of  221  lbs.  avoirdu- 
pois exported  to  America.    This  is  equal  to  $2  per  cwt. 

Tlio  oflicial  tables  annexed  to  this  report,  give  the  average 
number  of  tons  of  the  vessels  of  French  fishermen  employed  from 
1842  to  1847. 

'■  Tom. 

On  the  coast  of  Newfoundland,        ,      \  ♦    ,      '.  21,195 

At  St.  Pierre  and  Miquclon,     .        .        .        .        .  657 

At  Grand  Banks,     .        .        .        .   '     .        .        .  5,816 

At  Grand  Banks  without  drying,      ....  18,703 

At  Iceland,     . 7,794 

Total, 49,165 

Average  from  1835  to  1839, 63,456 

Number  of  vessels  Ist  period,  416 ;  2nd  period,  889. 

Since  the  jmssago  of  this  law,  the  French  fisheries  havo 
materially  improved.     Larger  and  superior  vessels  are  used, 


/ 


OUR    FISHERIES. 


m 


averaging  157  tons,  or  twice  the  size  of  our  vessels.    They  carry 
20  men  each.    France  had  in  these  fisheries, 


In  1858,  492  vessels ;  77,150  tons ;  15,280  men. 


for 


During  this  year  she  paid  in  bounties,  $735,000  equal  to 
each  ton  in  the  trade,  while  our  rate  was  but  $4  per  ton. 

The  product  of  her  fisheries  was  $3,500,000,  and  she  exported 
in  that  year  to  the  United  States  41,151  quintals. 

The  French  Dictionary  of  Commerce  published  at  Paris  three 
years  since,  remarks  that "  the  Americans  cannot  continue  their 
fisheries  against  the  English,  and  against  the  French  aided  by  a 
bounty,  without  a  bounty  also."  The  increase  in  the  French 
fisheries  since  1851  has  averaged  8  per  cent,  per  annimi. 


•     The  United  States  Fisheries. 

The  importance  of  these  fisheries  has  not  been  appreciated 
by  the  Middle  and  Western  States,  although  they  have  rendered 
such  important  aid  tx)  our  nation,  both  in  the  wars  of  1776  and 
1812,  and  more  recently  from  1861  to  1865,  by  men  trained 
amid  ice  and  fogs  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  upon 
boisterous  seas  to  naval  service. 

I  have  adverted  to  the  services  of  these  trained  seamen  in 
former  wars,  but  many  of  them  have  in  the  last  four  years 
evinced  their  ability  and  endurance  by  maintaining  for  years, 
through  storm  and  sunshine,  summer  and  winter,  days  and 
nights,  a  blockade  of  8,000  miles  of  coast,  that  Great  Britain 
considered  impossible,  and  by  the  capture  of  1,500  prizes.  At 
Port  Royal  with  wooden  walls  alone,  they  assailed  and  captured 
strong  and  well  armed  fortresses. 

At  New  Orleans  they  pushed  aside  the  fire-rafts,  and  with 
their  ships  festooned  with  chain  cables,  assailed  successfully 
both  forts  and  iron-clads. 

They  were  among  those  who  run  the  gftuntlct  of  Vicksburg 
and  Port  Hudson,  and  opened  the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee 
Rivers,  and  manned  the  decks  at  Mobile,  when  Farragut,  who 
fought  with  them  in  1812  on  the  Essex,  lashed  himself  to  the 
mast. 

The  history  of  the  past  teaches  us  their  value  in  the  future. 
The  American  fisheries  are  not  only  the  chief  nurseries  for  tho 


42 


AMERICAN  TONNAGE. 


mariners  and  petty  officers  of  our  navy,  but  they  are  the  schools 
from  which  spring  the  most  able  and  enterprising  mates,  cap- 
tains and  merchants  who  conduct  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
nation. 

The  deep  sea  fisheries  of  the  United  States,  at  the  present 
moment,  although  oppressed  by  heavy  duties;  although  deprived 
of  a  part  of  the  home  market, — are  still  alive,  and  their  returns 
for  1865  exclusive  of  the  whale  fishery,  are  more  than  the 
whole  returns  of  the  British  North  American  fisheries. 

The  tonnage  engaged  in  the  United  States  fisheries  has  been 
as  follows : — 


DATE. 


Tons  tn  the 
Cod  Fishery. 


In  the 
Mackerel  Flsherr. 


Aggregate 


1802, 
1863, 
1804, 


'122,863 
117,290 
103,742 


80,590' 

51,019 

55,494 


203,459 
168,809 
159,236      I 


The  return  of  fish  and  oil  from  this  tonnage  for  1862  con- 
siderably exceeded  fourteen  million  dollars — drawn  from  the 
rich  pastures  of  the  deep.  Wo  have  not  exact  returns  of  the  fish 
or  oil  landed  on  our  shores,  for  these  are  not  recorded  in  our 
oOTicial  reports ;  but  we  have  proof  that  in  1802  and  down  to 
the  present  hour  the  trade  has  paid  fair  profits  beyond  outfits, 
repairs,  insurance  and  other  disbursements,  and  that  these 
average  more  than  $80  per  ton  for  the  vessels  and  boats  in 
service,  or  more  than  $13,000,000. 

The  aggregate  produce  of  the  French,  British  and  United 
States  fisheries  on  the  coasts  of  America  at  this  time,  must 
exceed  $25,000,000,  of  which,  about  one-half  belongs  to  the 
United  States,  and  our  proportion  of  the  men  in  the  service, 
averages  at  least  25,000.  Our  conclusions  are  drawn  alike  from 
the  tonnage  employed,  the  men  required  to  navigate  it,  and  the 
necessary  expense  of  sailing  the  vessels,  and  from  evidence 
taken.*    The  progress  of  the  American  fisheries,  down  to  1851, 

*  During  tho  present  season  many  Beverly  fishermen  have  averaged  more 
than  12i  quintals  of  dry  flsh  to  ho  ton,  caught  in  less  than  0  months.  Tho 
present  vnluo  of  such  fish  exceeds  $S  the  quintal. 


PROCEEDS  AND  VALUE  OF  FISHERIES. 


m 


is  well  recounted  by  W.  A.  Wellman,  Esq.,  late  Assistant  Col- 
lector of  Boston,  in  Senate  Document,  No.  112,  for  1852,  to 
which  I  refer. 

The  Treaty  of  1783  expressly  stipulated  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  shall  continue  to  enjoy  unmolested  the  right 
to  take  fish  of  every  kind  on  the  banks  and  on  the  coasts,  and 
on  the  bays,  harbors  and  creeks  of  the  British  dominions  in 
America,  and  under  its  provisions  the  fisheries  were  revived 
and  rapidly  increased. 

A  bounty  was  allowed  on  the  exportation  of  fish  as  a  draw- 
back of  the  duty  on  salt  which  subsequently  took  the  form  of 
the  present  allowance.  . , 

Until  the  embargo  of  1808  fell  with  crushing  weight  upon 
the  industry  of  the  North,  the  fisheries  grew  rapidly. 

During  the  embargo  and  the  war,  when  bounties  were  dis- 
continued, the  export  declined  to  less  than  $100,000  in  1814. 
But  the  navy  was  manned  and  enabled  to  cope  successfully  with 
the  frigates  of  England.  The  Treaty  of  1814  was  silent  as  to 
the  fisheries  and  wo  resumed  our  original  rights,  and  the 
bounties  were  renewed,  but  our  commissioners  in  1818  having 
imprudently  renounced  our  fight  to  fish  within  three  miles  of 
the  shores,  harbors  and  bays  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick, 
Capo  Breton  and  Prince  Edward  Island,  and  the  Imperial 
Government  having  subsequently  imdertaken  to  draw  a  line 
from  headland  to  headland  and  exclude  us  from  the  bays  of 
Chaleurs,  Fundy  and  the  Strait  of  Canso,  and  to  seize  and  con- 
fiscate our  vessels,  our  fisheries,  which  had  gradually  progressed 
and  reached  145,000  tons,  again  receded  and  became  nearly 
stationary  from  1838,  until  negotiations  for  a  treaty  were  com- 
menced in  1851.  .  .    V 

The  tonnage  then  begftn  to  improve,  and  continued  progres- 
sive until  1862,  as  appears  by  the  following  table : — 

Tonnoffe  of  the  United  States  Fisheries.         *' 


1851,  . 

129,000 

1857,  . 

147,000 

1852,  . 

175,000 

1860,  . 

163,000 

1853,  . 

169,000 

1861,  . 

181,000 

1854,  . 

137,000 

1862,  . 

203,000 

1855,  . 

126,000 

1863,  . 

168,000 

1856,  . 

188,000 

1864,  . 

159,000 

f^' 


/r 


44 


TONNAOB. 


/ 


The  trade  culminates  with  the  return  of  203,000  tons.  It  has 
been  reduced  by  the  high  duty  on  salt  and  outfits.  But  aided 
by  the  high  prices  of  the  present  year  and  increased  demand  it 
is  recoTcring,  and  will,  if  properly  sustained  by  Government 
and  freed  from  oppressive  taxes,  probably  again  become  pro- 
gressive. 

It  suffers  for  the  moment  a  temporary  check  from  the  duties 
on  salt  consumed,  which  have  been  as  follows,  by  official  returns : 


DATS. 

Duties  on  Salt  Coiunir.id  in  the 
United  SUtee,  etaiefljr  In  UkO 
Fisheries. 

Bemlsslons  of  Duties  termed 
Boontles. 

Seamen  In  Flsheriei. 

1859, 
1860, 
1861, 
1862, 
1863, 
1864, 

9190,965  00 
210,881  00 
194,300  00 
418,084  00 

1,211,997  00 
887,003  00 

9426,962  00 
458,894  00 
467,&<i4  00 
429,556  00 
850,135  00 
352,854  00 

21,758 
22,611  . 
26,576  % 
28,048    ■    ; 
23,222 
21,925 

The  salt  consumed  by  the  fishermen  is  at  least  1,400  pounds 
per  ton,  and  ranges  from  $600,000  to  $700,000  yearly.  The 
fisheries  break  in  at  least  5,000  new  seamen  annually. 

The  number  of  vessels  in  the  fisheries  has  ranged,  since  1850, 
from  2,414  to  3,815  in  1862,  beside  boats  in  the  shore  fisheries. 
Six  hundred  sail  of  these  vessels  have  in  a  single  season  fished 
for  mackerel  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  Bay  of  Chaleurs, 
and  taken  fish  to  ae  amount  of  $4,500,000.*  f 

The  change  of  measurement  reduces  the  amoimt  of  tonnage 
in  the  fisheries,  as  most  of  the  now  vessels  are  clipper  built,  and 
can  mako  the  run  from  Boston  or  Gloucester  in  three  or  four 
days  to  the  Strait  of  Canso ;  but  its  effect  is  not  to  reduce  their 
capacity  to  carry,  but  capacity  to  draw  bounties,  and  as  the 
bounty  is  not  well  understood,  I  would  respectfully  suggest  the 
change  of  its  name  to  what  it  truly  is,  a  partial  drawback  of 


*  See  Appendix,  page  64. 

t  Nearly  one-fourth  of  our  flihing  fleet,  with  a  tonnage  of  40,000  to  60,000 
tons,  worth  95,000,000  to  97,000,000  •paoslljr,  flih  near  the  three  mile  lin* 
of  the  FroTincei.  v<r'.,  • 


ROUTINE  OF  FISHERMEN. 


45 


duties  on  salt  and  outfits,  to  vessels  eng{^ed  in  the  deep  sea 
fisheries. 

This  will  save  valuable  time  and  prevent  misapprehension. 

Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  the  routine  of  the  f.sherman. 
In  January  he  repairs  his  vessel.  In  February  the  fleet  sail  for 
George's  Banks,  where  in  a  deep  and  turbulent  sea  they  fish  for 
cod  and  halibut,  while  a  part  run  to  the  banks  and  shores  of 
Newfoundland.  In  May,  the  mackerel  strike  the  coast  at  Cape 
Henry,  and  the  fleet  divides — some  vessels  seek  the  fish  oflF  the 
Capes  of  the  Delaware;  some  run  through  the  Strait  of 
Canso  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  where  they  fish  for  cod  until 
the  last  of  June,  when  many  of  them  pursue  the  mackerel  until 
the  approach  of  winters,  along  the  shores  of  Canada,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  Pcince  Edwards  Island.  In  November  they  steer  towards 
home,  while  a  portion  have  fished  for  cod  on  the  banks  and  coast 
of  Labrador,  and  a  portion  have  found  the  mackerel  on  the  coasts 
of  Maine  and  Massachusetts.  By  December  the  fleet  returns, 
the  fishermen  pack  and  divide  the  spoil,  take  a  brief  respite,  and 
then  prepare  for  the  resumption  of  their  perilous  voyages.  In 
1851  more  than  100  vessels  were  driven  ashore  in  a  gale,  and 
800  lives  lost,  on  the  coasts  of  Prince  Edwards  Island ;  the 
fleet  faced  the  storm  rather  than  risk  detention  in  port  for  an 
infraction  of  the  treaty. 

In  1852,  says  the  "  Gloucester  Telegraph,"  the  mackerel  taken 
fall  short  one-half  from  the  supply  of  the  previous  year,  because 
the  vessels  were  obliged  to  keep  further  from  the  shore,  and 
were  prohibited  from  fishing  in  the  Bay  of  Chaleurs,  where  full 
fares  would  have  been  obtained. 

Many  vessels  pursue  the  cod  for  four  or  five  months,  to  secure 
the  bounty,  and  then  return  or  follow  the  mackerel,  and  by 
combining  both  make  the  season  profitable.  All  consider  the 
perpetuation  of  their  ancient  rights  to  the  shore  fisheries  as  of 
the  highest  importance. 

The  people  of  Prince  Edwards  Island,  where  the  best 
fish  abound,  do  not  object  to  the  fisheries.  Their  season 
for  agriculture  is  so  brief  and  time  so  valuable  when  the 
fish  strike  their  coast,  that  they  cheerfully  resign  the  fish  to 
their  visitors,  and  are  happy  to  sell  them  milk,  butter,  vege- 
tables and  poultry.  In  the  winter  they  devote  themselves  to 
ship-building.  !-:.•,>•;■ -v."   ^y-.^v-i;.  •  -  -  ■   -.  i.'K.^ '.■■ -<    .;'^.'j- 


46 


WHAT  IS  TO   BE  DONE? 


France  gives  a  bounty  to  her  fisheries,  to  sustain  her  naval 
power.  ,   /  ^i : 

Nature  gives  a  bounty  to  the  Provinces,  in  their  proximity  to 
the  fishing  grounds. 

The  policy  of  England  cooperates  with  nature,  by  remitting 
duties  on  all  the  fisheries  require.  This  the  French  term  pro- 
tection. This  is  better  than  bounties.  And  we,  who  have 
both  distance  and .  adverse  influences  to  counteract,  impose 
duties  on  hull,  rigging  and  sails,  on  chains,  cables  and  anchors, 
on  seines,  lines  and  fish-hooks,  on  tea,  sugar  and  cofiee,  on 
nearly  everything  the  seaman  eats,  drinks  or  wears.  When 
these,  too,  were  at  the  highest,  we  have,  by  change  of  measure- 
ment, reduced  one-fourth  the  drawback  we  have  given  for  the 
last  fifty  years,  in  the  shape  of  a  bounty  or  allowance  of  four 
dollars  per  ton,  and  while  we  diminish  it  to  one-fourth  the  rate 
paid  by  Franco,  and  import  her  dry  fish  at  a  duty  of  fifty  cents 
per  quintal,  after  they  have  drawn  a  bounty  of  fourfold  that 
amount,  we  continue  a  tax  of  eighteen  cents  per  100  pounds,  or 
more  than  200  per  cent,  on  prime  cost  of  salt,  a  most  oppressive 
burden  on  our  fisheries.  ../      ,  i*^    ,    ,     .:.t  j 

When  we  consider  what  the  fisheries  have  done  for  our  com- 
merce and  our  country,  and  reflect  how  cheap  and  useful  is  the 
food  they  furnish,  indispensable  on  certain  days  to  Roman 
Catholics,  and  renovating  to  all,  as  Agassiz  states,  from  the 
phosphorus  it  contains;  when  we  reflect,  too,  upon  the  great 
market  the  fisheries  furnish  for  the  beef,  pork  and  flour  of  the 
West,  the  question  may  well  arise, — does  the  nation  deal  fairly 
or  wisely  with  its  fisheries?  They  consume  at  least  75,000 
barrels  of  beef,  pork  and  flour,  annually,  according  to  the 
computations  of  the  fishermen,  while  the  wives  and  children 
of  those  fishermen,  doubtless,  consume  a  much  larger  amount. 
Whether  we  treat  or  not,  the  duties  on  salt  and  necessaries 
should  be  remitted,  and  the  fishermen  protected.  ,  . 

We  have  thus  taken  a  brief  but  comprehensive  glance  at  the 
inland  commerce  with  Canada,  the  trade  with  the  maritime 
Provinces  and  the  fisheries;  and  the  question  recurs,  What  is  to 
bo  done?  Are  we  to, go  back,  with  contiguous  and  growing 
Provinces,  more  populous  than  the  United  States  in  1783,  to  a 
system  of  ret&liation  and  restricted  commerce,  to  ports  closed  a^ 
they  wore  before  1830,  except  during  the  embargo,  when  Eng- 


/':! 


BOUNTIES. 


47 


land  opened  them? — are  we  to  come  to  blows  with  her  for 
rights  won  by  the  sword  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  which 
improvident  commissioners  have  impaired  or  put  in  jeopardy, 
or  shall  we  make  a  treaty  ?  We  must  either  risk  our  mackerel 
fishery,  treat,  or  annex  the  Provinces.  We  may  not  be  ready 
for  the  latter,  and  can  offer  more  inducements  and  attractions 
at  a  future  day,  but  we  are  in  a  strong  position  to  negotiate. 
Shall  we  try  negotiation  or  duties  restrictive  of  commerce? 
Lord  North  tried  restriction  and  coercion,  and  they  cost  him 
the  Colonies.  Let  us  pursue  a  different  policy.  Let  us  treat 
the  Provinces  as  friends  and  patrons,  as  valuable  customers,  and 
if  they  join  us  let  them  come  as  friends ;  we  desire  no  unwilling 
associates. 

Thus  far  the  Provinces,  and  more  especially  Canada,  ?  .v^e 
found  reciprocity  teeming  with  benefits.  It  is  to  them  eminently 
beneficial ;  without  it  their  agriculture  and  commerce  must  lan- 
guish, and  their  lumber,  coal,  fish,  canals  and  railways  probably 
decline  in  value.  We  can  properly  demand,  and  it  seems  to  me 
they  must  and  will  grant  terms  that  will  satisfy  our  country. 
It  would  be  most  unwise  for  Great  Britain,  with  $3,000,000,000 
annually  afloat,  on  foreign  voyages  and  in  her  coastwise  com- 
merce, to  risk  a  collision  with  our  fishermen,  and  the  war  to 
which  it  would  in  all  probability  lead,  in  the  present  state  of 
public  feeling  in  this  country.*  ;■    ^        r 

Navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Ship  Canals  to  the  Sea. 

There  is  another  subject  in  which  the  West  takes  a  deep 
interest,  which  was  discussed  at  length  before  the  convfention 
at  Detroit,  and  should  command  the  attention  of  the  com- 
missioners who  negotiate  a  treaty.  In  the  language  of  the 
Resolution  adopted  unanimously  by  the  Boards  of  Trade  and 
commercial  representatives  of  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Detroit,  and  fifteen  other  large 
cities,  "  the  treaty  should  include  the  free  navigation  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  other  rivers  of  British  North  America,  with  stich 
improvements  of  the  rivers  and  enlargement  of  the  canals  as 


*  Will  it  be  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  to  allow  88  milliojis  of  our  people 
inured  to  war,  to  contrast  much  longer  her  apathy  in  the  cose  of  the  Alabama 
with  her  alacrity  in  the  case  of  the  Fenians  and  Jamaica  negroes  ? 


48 


NAVIGATION  TO  THE  SEA. 


shall  render  them  adequate  for  the  requirements  of  the  West  in 
communicating  With  the  ocean."  > 

The  West,  with  its  soil  of  exhaustless  fertility,  stimulated  by 
the  progress  of  art,  finds  all  its  outlets  insufiicient  and  its  gran- 
aries overflowing.  The  enlarged  canals  of  New  York,  the 
railways  of  our  great  seaports,  prove  inadequate. 

It  requires  Lake  St.  Clair  to  be  deepened  and  ship  canals  to 
be  constructed  for  large  steamers,  to  enable  it  to  send  its  freight 
without  breaking  bulk,  both  to  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico. 

In  the  discussion  at  Detroit  the  Provincials  urged  the  import- 
ance of  a  direct  route  to  Liverpool  to  a  market,  which  in  ordi- 
nary years  absorbs  breadstuffs  to  the  amount  of  jB  26,000,000, 
and  to  a  country  ready  with  low  duties  to  send  any  quantity  of 
manufactures  in  exchange.  Other  gentlemen  proposed  to  send 
flour  and  provisions  by  this  route  to  the  West  Indies  and  South 
America,  and  receive  back  sugar  and  coffee  in  return.  New 
York  and  Canada  both  favored  the  opening  of  a  ship  canal  from 
the  St.  Lawrence  into  Lake  Champlain;  other  States  urged  the 
importance  of  lines  from  Green  Bay  or  Lake  Superior  ^  'he 
Mississippi  and  the  enlargement  of  the  canal  from  Lake  Mi  n 
to  the  Mississippi.  i» 

The  United  States  and  the  Provinces  are  alike  interested  in 
these  measures,  and  it  is  respectfully  suggested  that  they  should 
be  embraced  in  the  treaty. 

At  the  present  time  the  Erie  Canal  admits  no  vessels  exceed- 
ing two  hundred  and  twenty-four  tons,  tho  St.  Lawrence  Canals, 
with  small  locks  and  ten  feet  water,  are  restricted  to  three  hun- 
dred tons,  while  the  Welland  admits  vessels  of  four  hundred 
tons,  drawing  nine  feet  only. 

The  West,  through  Mr.  Joy,  of  Detroit,  asks  for  a  depth  and 
width  sufficient  for  vessels  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  tons,  of 
sufficient  draft  to  navigate  the  ocean  safely,  and  for  such  vessels 
twelve  feet  will  be  required.  Through  the  six  months  of  sum- 
mer and  autumn  the  rim  from  Montreal  can  be  made  to  Liver- 
pool with  dispatch — the  distance  is  less  than  the  distance  from 
New  York. 

It  would  be  reasonablS  to  ask  Great  Britain  to  perfect  that  por- 
tion of  the  route  which  lies  between  Lake  Ontario  and  Montreal. 
She  ought  also  to  be  called  upon  to  aid  in  deepening  Lake  St. 


m\Wi 


CANALS,  ''.irnf.'k -* '/.M'tri'  ■•  i 


# 


Clair,  for  it  will  benefit  the  commerce  of  both  countries.  She 
has  proposed  to  make  a  ship  canal  from  Lachine  to  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  which  may  bo  effected  for  three  to  four  millions,  end  carry- 
large  vessels  laden  with  the  cereals  and  lumber  of  the  West  to 
Burlington  and  Whitehall ;  and  such  a  step  would  induce  New 
York  to  enlarge  her  Champlain  Canal,  and  thus  carry  large 
steamers  to  the  deep  waters  of  the  Hudson.       d  i^^'r?*.-  - 

While  these  steps  are  appropriate  for  Canada,  the  United 
States  might  stipulate  to  aid  in  deepening  St.  Clair,  in  enlarg- 
ing the  Mich'.gan  Canal,  and  to  build  a  ship  canal  on  her  own 
territory  around  the  Falls  of  Niagara  with  a  depth  of  twelve  to 
fifteen  feet  and  a  capacity  for  vessels  of  one  thousand  five  hun- 
dred tons.  They  could  annually  apply  two  or  three  millions 
to  these  great  objects  of  national,  and  more  tlian  national 
importance,  and  in  a  few  years  they  would  be  accomplished. 

The  St.  Lawrence  route  would  relieve  the  existing  canals  and 
railways,  and  the  route  by  Lake  Champlain  would  compete  for 
the  direct  trade  to  Europe  and  supply  our  Eastern  seaports, 
while  the  Michigan  Canals  would  ..ttraot  the  commerce  of  the 
South  and  the  West  Indies.  It  is  proper  also  to  remark  that  a 
very  valuable  suggesjtion  as  to  these  public  works  has  been 
made  by  one  of  the  ministers  of  Canada.  It  is  that  they  should 
be  made  neutral  in  case  of  war,  and  that  all  vessels  and'  prop- 
erty of  both  nations  passing  through  the  same  shall  be  exempt 
from  seizure.  ^^-^  ;•   .    -v^^Piis  .  h  fri.  .„ 

Provision  would  thus  be  made  both  for  the  Provinces,  the 
West,  the  So\ith  and  the  East,  and  the  great  home  market  of 
the  East  is  not  to  be  forgotten. 

The  Provincials,  when  presenting  to  the  West  the  market  of 
Great  Britain  for  breadstuffs,  urged  as  an  argument  for  a  cheap 
and  direct  route  that  we  should  meet  there  some  competitors, 
and  the  following  table  was  submitted  by  G.  H.  Perry,  C.  E.,  of 
Canada  West,  viz. :—  ?>'      s*^^;   !^    ■       <; 

Percentage  of  breadstufis  imported  into  Great  Britain  from, — 


Russia,  . 
Prussia, . 
Mechlenburg, . 
Hanse  Towns, 
Franco,  . 

7 


,,<■     ■:  ,   ■■•       --,_, 


»f'xte->»;^   ff:  • 


t>     ■  t  *  < 


19^  per  cent. 

8  « 
4  « 
6^      « 


50 


SOUTHERN  OUTliET  FOR  ST.  LAWRENCE. 


■kl-^.'. 


5i] 

per  cent. 

H 

« 

n 

Hi 

<(  • 

2J 

a 

Turkey,  . 
Egypt,    . 
United  States, 
Denmark, 
Other  countries, 


These  prove  his  case,  but  he  omitted  to  state  that  while  we 
should  divide  the  profits  with  others  abroad,  and  find  prices  less 
than  in  former  days,  there  was  a  home  market  in  our  Eastern 
and  Central  States  where  $2,000,000,000  of  domestic  manufac- 
tures were  exchanged  for  the  products  of  agriculture,  to  which 
easy  access  might  be  had  by  the  placid,  clear  and  safe  naviga- 
tion of  Lake  Champlain,  and  th,e  railways  that  radiate  from  . 
Oswego  and  Ogdensburg,  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Hudson. 
With  these  improvements  made,  all  the  Provinces  and  the  States 
would  bo  interested  in  the  completion  of  the  Northern  Railway 
from  Lake  Superior  and  the  Mississippi  across  the  Bed  River  of 
the  Noi  th  to  the  Pacific,  and  the  growth  of  the  West  would  still 
give  a  large  traffic  to  the  canals  of  New  York. 

The  propellers  on  their  way  down  the  lakes  would  rarely 
take  fuel  for  more  than  two  or  three  d^ys'  consuiT>ption,  and 
on  their  arrival  a(  the  ports  of  Montreal  or  New  York  would 
land  there  portions  or  the  whole  of  their  cargoes  for  distribu- 
tion, and  replace  them  with  coal  for  a  fortnight's  steaming  and 
freight  to  Europe. 

Let  us  ^ve  the  St.  Lawrencd  a  Southern  outlet.* 

In  case  the  old  treaty  expires,  there  are  those  who  desire  to 
place  heavy  duties  on  the  exports  of  Canada.  They  urge  that 
she  gave  her  sympathies  to  our  foes  and  allowed  them  to 
organize  and  assail  us  across  the  frontier.  That  nature  has 
interposed  our  country  between  Canada  and  the  sea.  That  we 
should  avail  ourselves  of  our  position  and  draw  a  revenue  from 
her  commerce.  That  her  natural  market  was  our  homo  market, 
that  her  Provi;ices  wore  nearer  to  the  seats  of  our  commerce 
and  manufactures,  than  our  Western  States.  That  hor  lands, 
forests  and  niincs  depended  for  their  value  in  our  markets.  That 
wo  had  incurred  debts  to  preserve  the  latter,  and  if  Canada  is 
to  use  them  iho  should,  like  our  States,  contribute  to  the  cost. 


\ 


1/  i.i 


">  8c*  Appendix,  pagt : 


DUTIEO. 


m 


That  she  could  easily  do  so,  as  she  had  access  across  the  lakes 
to  our  canals  and  railways,  and  that  under  our  treaty  her 
animals  and  coarse  grains  were  worth  more  at  Kingston  or 
Toronto,  than  ours  at  the  West.  That  the  nations  of  the  old 
world  coin  their  natural  advantages  into  money.  That  Russia, 
France,  Holland  and  Great  Britain  in  her  East  India  possessions, 
impose  duties  on  the  exports  that  they  monopolize,  and  exact 
tribute  from  other  countries. 

But  may  it  not  be  urged  that  some  allowance  is  to  be  made 
for  Colonies  like  Canada  struggling  to  reach  the  ocean,  to 
break  the  icy  fetters  that  bind  them  half  the  year,  anxious  to 
obtain  favor  from  England  and  rival  the  improvements  of  the 
great  Republic  on  their  borders,  and  to  meet  the  interest  of  a 
debt  which  seemed  to  us  immense  before  we  had  contracted  our 
own  ? 

And  may  we  not  ascribe  the  tone  of  the  frontiers  to  the 
emissaries  of  secession  and  the  leaders  of  the  London  press  ? 

Would  it  be  wise  to  incur  the  ill  will  of  a  Province  whose 
frontier  for  three  thousand  miles  borders  on  our  own  ?  Would 
it  bo  politic  to  stimulate  illicit  trade  at  a  time  when  we  require 
high  duties  to  meet  our  engagements  ? 

Again,  let  mo  ask,  is  it  desirable  for  us  to  have  a  Province  on 
our  borders  with  property  depreciated  and  trade  languishing — 
and  should  we  not  participate  in  its  prosperity,  if  we  give  life 
to  its  commorce— or  should  we  divert  business  from  our  canals 
and  railways  to  a  new  and  circuitous  route  across  New  Bruns- 
wick ?  And  if  New  England  and  New  York  lie  between  Canada 
and  the  sea,  docs  not  Canada  lie  between  \ib  and  some  of  the 
States  of  the  West  ? 

If  the  revenue  of  Canada  now  enables  her  to  recede  from 
hor  duties  on  our  products ;  if  sho  bocj  that  they  give  no 
commensurate  benefit ;  if  sho  has  inexhaustible  forests  and 
fields  on  our  borders ;  if  under  the  guidance  of  England  sho 
has  not  yet  learned  to  manufacture  largely  and  is  willing  to 
exchange  her  staples  for  the  products  of  a  country  like  ours, 
more  advanced  in  tlio  arts  ;  if  our  manufactures  bid  fair  soon 
to  overtake  our  agriculture, — may  we  not  profit  by  a  fair  ex- 
change and  may  we  not  forgot  the  errors  of  the  past  and  welcome 
the  friendship  of  the  future.  It  is  doubtless  desirable  for  Canada 
to  roach  our  homo  market  and  to  gain  a  direct  route,  summer 


52 


CANADIAN  EXPORTS. 


and  winter,  to  the  sea,  but  she  has  open  to  her  half  the  year 
the  route  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  connected  by  a  series  of  canals 
and  railways,  with  the  lakes.  And  is  it  our  policy  to  turn  all 
her  trade  that  way,  or  through  the  wilds  of  New  Brunswick  ? 
These  are  important  questions. 

Canada  sends  to  us  under  the  treaty  many  animals.  Among 
these  in  1863  were  19,836  horses  and  21,665  cattle,  and  71,000 
sheep,  which  aided  us  in  finishing  the  war. 

The  aggregate  value  of  all  such  animals  imported  from 
Canada  was  last  year,  more  than  $5,000,000,  but  we  send  her 
beef  and  pork  to  the  amount  of  nearly  $2,000,000  and  she 
exports  beef  to  Europe. 

Should  we  impose  heavy  duties  on  horses,  sheep  pelts  or^ 
wool,  would  she  not  send  cattle  in  their  place  ?    If  we  iax  the 
cattle  heavily,  would  she  send  the  animals  across  the  border,  or 
ship  their  beef  to  Great  Britain  and  compete  with  our  beef  in 
the  English  market  ? 

Many  of  her  chief  products  now  stand  upon  an  equipoise. 
We  send  her  cheese  and  she  sends  us  butter,  but  more  than 
half  her  export  of  butter  is  to  England.  Two-thirds  of  her 
surplus  peas  and  beans  go  to  Europe  less  than  one-third  cross 
our  lines,  and  the  lumber  we  exclude  by  an  oneroits  tax  might 
meet  ours  in  South  America  or  the  West  Indies.  Canada- 
might  thus  suffer,  but  our  canals,  railways  and  commerce, 
would  partake  of  her  losses. 

Again,  we  have  a  largo  manufacture  of  wool,  which  had  risen 
from  $66,000,000  in  1860  to  $122,000,000  in  1864,  requiring 
152,000,000  of  pounds,  nearly  half  of  which  was  imported, 
and  Canada  supplies  us  with  5,500,000  pounds  of  combing 
wool  the  present  year,  of  a  quality  we  do  not  produce,  but 
which  we  require  for  our  new  fabrics  for  our  moussclino 
delaines,  alpaccas  and  bunting. 

In  the  recent  very  able  address  of  J.  L.  Hayes,  Esq.,  to  the 
National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers,  the  above  facts 
are  stated.  It  is  also  stated:  "That  in  1860  wo  imported 
$15,000,000  of  worsteds,  principally  from  England.  Wo  made 
ouly  $3,000,000.  To  replace  the  English  worsteds  wo  have 
nbKolutuly  no  raw  material  and  depend  wholly  on  the  Leicester 
and  Cotswold  wools  of  Canada."  Tho  success  of  tlio  Lowell 
Manufacturing    Company  in  fabricating  alpaca   goods  from 


BREADSTUFFS. 


'■fM: 


\ 


the 

1  facts 

)rtod 

lado 

Ihavo 

38tor 

l)WoU 

from 


Canada  lustre  wools  has  demonstrated  that  the  wool  does  not 
deteriorate.  The  Canada  wool  has  been  found  equal  to  the 
best  English  lustre  wool  imported  for  comparison.  The  free 
wool  of  Canada  has  been  an  inestimable  favor  to  our  worsted 
manufacturers.  It  does  not  compete  with  the  productions  of 
our  own  farmers,  as  we  raise  little  more  than  200,000  pounds 
of  long  wool,  while  Canada  consumes  800,000  pounds  of  our 
clothing  wool  annually.  It  is  not  possible  that  our  production  of 
long  wool  can  keep  up  with  the  demand.  Would  it  be  wise, 
while  we  are  competing  with  Eui'ope  for  the  production  of 
$16,000,000  of  worsteds,  to  check  the  introduction  of  the  long 
and  silky  fleeces  produced  in  the  cold  and  moist  climate  of 
Canada,  and  send  that  staple  abroad  to  aid  our  rivals  ?  In  four 
years  Canada  can  furnish  all  we  require  for  the  $15,000,000  of 
worsteds. 

There  are  few  of  the  great  staples  of  the  Provinces  it  would 
be  wise  to  tax  heavily,  should  the  chance  be  afforded.  It  wou  d 
be  unwise  to  tax  the  minor  articles,  and  most  unwise  to  tax 
those  which  would  be  diverted  by  a  duty. 

The  field  of  inquiry  is  limited  to  the  great  staples  of  the 
Provinces — wheat,  oats,  barley,  coal,  lumber  and  fish,  and, 
possibly,  horses.  "We  may  dispose  at  once  of  wheat ;  Canada 
sends  us  the  flour  of  her  white  who  it,  and  annually  takes  in 
return  an  equivalent  in  tlie  red  wl  "at  of  the  TV  est,  most  ol 
which  she  consumes.  Tliis  i  ''air  mtercbange.  As  respects 
the  flour  "  in  transitu,**  eacl  ^  invites  to  its  ports  ' 

shipment  to  Europe. 

With  respect  to  oats,  the  production  i  '-nnada  is  immense, 
having  risen  in  1860  to  thirty-eight  millioub  uf  busheb .  and 
our  importation  of  oats  from  Canada  was,  in  1864,  over  nii  ) 
millions  of  bushels.  But,  under  our  system  of  free  <  ule,  hall 
the  oats  exported  from  Prince  Edwards  Island  seek  >  market 
of  Groat  Britain ;  and  a  duty  exceeding  four  cents  per  bushel, 
would  probably  either  diminish  the  cultivation  in  Caiai]  or 
send  a  largo  portion  to  Europe. 

Barley  might  jHJsslbly  bear  a  duty  of  five  or  seven  <mt8  per 
bushel,  but  a  higher  duty  would  probably  send  it  to  the  still  or 
to  Europe. 

The  coal  of  Pennsylvania  meets  the  English  coal  at  Montreal, 
and  our  exports  through  the  lakes,  including  Lake  Champlain, 


54 


COAL. 


range  from  103,000  to  171,000  tons  annually,  between  1861 
and  1864,  while  we  receive  from  Canada,  annually,  100,000  to 
150,000  cords  of  firewood.  This  interchange  must  progress 
with  a  return  to  specie  payments,  and  the  extension  of  coal 
railways  to  Rochester  and  Oswego.  But  we  import  coal  from 
the  Provinces,  as  well  as  export  to  them.  Nova  Scotia  has 
extensive  coal  mines,  once  held  in  strict  monopoly  by  the  Duko 
of  York.  Most  of  them  have  reverted  to  the  Province,  and 
grants  are  now  made  to  individuals,  reserving  royalties.  Somo 
of  our  own  citizens  are  opening  mines  in  this  region  to  supply 
our  home  demands.  The  chief  mines  at  Sydney  and  Pictou 
are  within  nine  miles  of  the  seacoast,  and  nearly  free  from  the 
charges  of  railway  transportation.  The  freights  to  the  New 
England  coast  are  often  as  low  as  the  freights  from  the  Chesa- 
peake, and,  in  ordinary  times,  Provincial  coal  can  be  laid  down 
in  the  seaports  of  New  England,  for  five  dollars  per  ton  in 
specie. 

It  would  seem  as  if  nature  had  designed  this  region  for  the 
supply  of  our  north-eastern  coast.  The  coal  from  Nova  Scotia 
is  bituminous,  and  thus,  dififers  from  the  coal  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  is  adapted  for  other  uses,  in  gas-works,  forges  and  furnaces. 
At  least  half  of  it  is  used  for  gas.  Fifty  thousand  tons  are 
annually  used  by  one  gas  company,  in  Boston.  It  is  used,  also, 
to  a  considerable  extent  by  the  steamers  which  run  to  foreign 
ports. 

While  we  place  a  tax  on  our  own  coal,  it  is  doubtless  just 
that  this  coal  should  contribute  as  much,  or  more,  to  our 
revenue ;  and,  doubtless,  a  moderate  duty  of  five  or  ten  per 
cent,  might  bo  hazarded  on  this  coal,  on  which  we  pay  both 
cost,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  freight,  to  foreigners.  THie 
importation  annually  incrQases. 

But  wo  must  not  forget  that  if  we  impose  a  largo  duty,  it 
must  fall  in  part  on  the  consumer;  and  whatever  falls  on 
the  Provinces  may  check  importation.  That  the  Eastern  States 
require  cheap  coal  to  impel  tlioir  engines,  to  heat  their  furnaces 
and  set  their  steamers  hi  motion,  as  well  as  to  meet  the  severity 
of  their  long  winters.  That  if  wo  ore  to  compete  in  steam 
navigation  with  England,  whose  coal  is  nearer  her  ports,  we  must 
have  cheap  fuel.  Wo  have  already  resigned  to  her  our  passage 
money,  freights,  and  ocean  postages,  tu    ucourago  packets  con- 


HA 


LUMBER. 


I  i. 


65 


I  just 

our 

per 

both 

Tlio 


vertible  into  frigates,  and  now  it  is  not  easy  to  regain  the  ground 
we  have  lost,  if  we  relinquish  cheap  fuel.  Such  considerations 
will,  doubtless,  prevcut  a  heavy  impost  on  such  a  necessary — 
which  we  take  in  payment  for  our  breadstufifs — from  shores 
adapted  by  nature  to  supply  New  England. 

Lumber. 

Another  article,  on  which  we  might  impose  duties,  is  lumber, 
which  comes  to  us  in  tho  various  shapes  of  timber,  plank, 
boards,  masts,  spars,  railway  ties,  laths,  shingles,  clapboards 
and  saw  logs.  It  comes  principally  from  Canada,  as  New 
Brunswick  sends  most  of  her  surplus  to  foreign  ports,  (where 
she  competes  with  Maine,)  and  less  than  twenty  million  feet  to 
the  United .  States ;  while  Canada  sends  us  lumber  to  the 
amount  of  five  million  dollars. 

An  average  duty  of  one  dollar  per  thousand,  board  measure, 
woul  add  materially  to  our  revenue,  and  with  a  less  impost 
upon  our  own  lumber,  might  enable  us  to  raise  annually,  from 
this  article,  six  or  eight  millions  of  dollars  ;  as  our  home  pr.o- 
duction  was  found,  by  the  census  of  1860,  to  exceed  ninety-five 
millions  of  dollars  annually. 

Nature  has  made  on  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  Canada  an 
immense  provision  of  pine,  which  may  be  easily  floated  to  our 
borders,  and  thence  to  our  great  centres  of  production ;  and 
its  bulk,  and  the  rapid  diminution  of  our  home  supply,  would, 
doubtless,  prevent  a  diversion,  if  we  impose  a  moderate  duty. 

There  are  strong  arguments  for  a  moderate  duty.  It  will  fall 
in  part  on  tho  producer.  We  are  wasteful  in  the  use  of  lum- 
ber— we  expose  it  to  moisture  and  quick  decay  in  fences,  walks 
and  cellars,  where  hedges,  stone,  or  brick  would  render  more 
service ;  and  if  a  tax  chocks  consumption,  it  will  keep  more 
in  reserve  for  the  wants  of  tho  future.  ■;  ./^tii  '-, 

There  is,  too,  no  reciprocity  as  to  lumber,  for  wc  export  little 
or  none  to  tho  Provinces,  unless  it  bo  a  small  amount  of  yellow 
pine  and  oak,  for  ship-building,  and  some  staves  and  clear  pine 
from  tho  West.  Mr.  Skoad,  of  Ottowa,  ostimatos  that  Canada 
has,  upon  lakes  and  rivers,  easily  accessible,  287,000  square 
miles  of  pino  forests,  and  a  largo  supply  of  valuable  wood  ;  loss 
than  one-tenth  ^  her  pine  forests  have  been  cut  over. 


DUTIES  ON  FISH. 


yar«ifr.vi'g* 


Fish. 


Another  subject  for  duty  is  fish,  not  the  white  fish,  salmou  or 
salmon-trout,  sent  fresh  to  market,  and  caught  upon  the  lakes 
and  rivers  of  the  Provinces.  Not  the  smoked  salmon  or  her- 
ring, which  come  in  small  lots  to  market,  or  the  fresh  herring 
imported  firom  Newfoundland  for  bait,  but  the  dry  cod-fish  and 
packed  mackerel,  such  as  are  the  chief  product  of  our  deep  sea 
fisheries. 

France  gives  a  bounty  to  her  fishermen  of  $2  for  every  quin- 
tal they  send  to  Boston  or  New  York.  Nature  gives  one  to  the 
Provinces ;  Great  Britain  another,  by  the  remission  of  duties. 
The  combined  efiect  of  these,  aided  by  the  pressure  of  our 
duties  on  salt,  enabled  the  Provinces  to  send  us,  in  1864, 
fish  to  the  value  of  $1,376,704,  while  France  sent  us  the  less 
amount  of  $32,410,  on  which  we  realized  a  duty. 

To  meet  the  privileges  of  the  Provinces  and  the  bounties  of 
France,  we  allow  our  vessels  which  pursue  the  cod-fishery  for 
four  months,  a  remission  of  duties  of  $4  per  ton,  a  remission 
which  is  reduced  by  the  new  measurement.  We  accompany  this 
by  duties  that  average  more  than  three  times  the  amount  of  our 
remission. 

Thus  do  we  meet  the  rivalry  of  the  world  in  conducting  our 
great  naval  school  of  seamen.  To  meet  the  privileges  and 
bounties  of  other  nations,  our  fishermen  had  their  native  energy 
and  their  home  market  left.  We  admit  the  foreigner  to  the  latter, 
and  now  they  have  nothing  to  fall  back  upon  but  that  native 
energy  of  which  no  one  can  rob  them ;  which  these  amphibious 
men,  alike  at  home,  at  sea,  or  on  shore,  have  ever  exhibited.  Is 
it  just  to  give  again  the  great  home  market  for  fish  to  the  Prov- 
inces, while  we  place  a  duty  of  fifty  cents  per  quintal,  in  gold, 
on  the  French  fish,  and  tax  our  own  fishermen  so  severely? 
Should  wo  not  have  full  equivalents  for  admission  to  the  home 
market,  and  should  not  some  of  these  accrue  to  the  benefit  of 
our  great  college  of  seamen?  We  have  never  resigned  our 
rights  to  fish  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  Bays  of  Fundy 
and  Ghalours,  which  ore  not  bays  of  shelter  and  repairs,  and 
exceed  six  miles  in  width  at  their  outlets ;  and  our  country  will 
never  resign  them.  The  only  right  we  have  resigned  is  the 
right  to  fish  within  three  miles  of  tho  coast  au(^ports  for  shelter 
on  tho  shores  of  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  Prince  Edwards  Island 


??  CONFISCATION  ILLEGAL. 


and  New  Brunswick.  But  few  fish  are  taken  within  a  marine 
league  of  the  coast,  but  it  will  often  happen  that  when  a  fleet 
of  several  hundred  sail  are  in  pursuit  of  a  vast  shoal  of  mack- 
erel in  the  open  sea,  and  loading  their  vessels,  tho  fish  will  pass 
the  invisible  line,  and  a  fleet  manned  by  three  thousand  to  six 
thousand  men  in  close  pursuit  may  follow.  If  the  fish  bite 
freely  the  fishermen  rarely  stop  to  measure  distances.  While 
the  decks  a^/e  piled  up  with  fish  there  is  little  space  to  use  the 
theodolite,  and  under  such  circumstances  the  claim  of  the  Prov- 
inces of  a  right  to  confiscate  the  vessels  for  such  harmless  and 
accidental  trespass  is  one  which  our  country  will  not  readily 
tolerate.*  Such  trespasses  rarely  injure,  and  the  world  is  bene- 
fited by  the  addition  to  its  food.  Until  we  have  a  treaty,  let 
the  nation  make  reparation  for  injuries  sustained  in  such 
cases  as  one  gentleman  makes  reparation  to  another,  if  he  passes 
his  boundary  in  the  chase,  but  let  the  nation  insist  that  the 
penalty  shall  not  exceed  the  ofience. 

Does  the  forbearance  of  the  maritime  Provinces  to  insist 
upon  claims  to  the  exclusive  use  of  great  arms  of  tho  sea, 
in  which  our  ancestors  have  fished  for  two  centuries — such 
as  the  Strait  of  Canso,  the  great  Bays  of  Fundy  and  Chaleurs — 
or  their  forbearance  to  seize  and  confiscate  the  vessels  of  one- 
quarter  of  our  fishing  fleet,  for  trespasses  often  involuntary, 
entitle  them  to  the  possession  of  our  home  market,  for  admis- 
sion to  which  we  impose  heavy  taxes  upon  the  fisheries  of 
France  ?  If  it  does,  let  the  Provinces  have  a  full  equivalent, 
but  if  they  attempt  again  to  seize  vessels  five  or  six  miles 
from  the  shore,  or  even  nearer,  dismiss  the  crews  who  sail 
on  shares,  in  a  state  of  destitution,  strip  the  vessel,  and  when 
she  is  acquitted,  return  her  to  tho  owners,  on  payment  of 
costs,  with  her  salt  melted,  her  lines,  sails  and  rigging  gone, 
and  tho  voyage  ruined,  and  deny  redress,  the  fishermen  and 
tho  nation  have  a  right  to  demand  redress.f     If  the  treaty 

*  Snch  conflsoatton  is  not  sanctioned  by  the  modern  law  of  nations.  It  was 
aboliihed  by  Franco  as  a  punishment  as  far  buclc  as  1790 ;  is  pronounced  an 
outrage  on  the  civilized  world  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in  United  States  vt. 
Conteman,  Peters*  Reports,  7,  page  8G,  cited  as  law  by  Fhilmore  on  International 
Law,  vol.  8,  page  748.    Wheaton,  £95. 

t  The  Hon.  Mr.  Sabine  gives  loe  such  a  casoi  occurring  prior  to  tho  Uecipro* 
city  Treaty. 


68 


MAKEWEIGHTS  FOB  A  TBEATT. 


Iff 


expires  and  is  not  renewed,  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that 
the  Government  should  despatch  a  squadron  to  the  fishing 
grounds,  to  see  that  our  vessels  are  not  molested,  and  that  our 
fisheries  are  not  destroyed.  If  they  do  not,  we  may  well  expect 
the  fishermen  who  have  been  south  under  Farragut,  to  follow  the 
advice  of  Greneral  Dix,  if  an/  one  attempts  to  haul  down  the 
American  flag. 

Has  England  suffered  from  the  Dutch,  who  have  for  centuries 
caught  herrings  on  her  coast?  Have  the  Provinces  suffered 
loss  by  the  occasional  capture  of  a  few  fish  near  their  shores  ? 
If  they  have,  let  the  nation  recognize  the  claims,  and  assume 
the  debt,  and  thus  sustain  the  treaty,  but  the  great  fact 
stands  out  in  bold  relief,  that  under  the  treaty  of  reciprocity, 
for  the  last  eleven  years,  the  fisheries  have  been*  pursued 
outside  and  inside  of  the  three  mile  line,  the  fishermen  have 
enjoyed  all  their  ancient  rights,  and  no  serious  claims  for 
losses  Have  been  made  public.  Should  we  admit  the  fish  of 
the  Provinces,  at  a  duty  of  ton  per  cent.,  they  will  still  have 
a  decided  advantage  over  the  fish  of  France,  while  the  small 
duty  that  protects  the  fishermen  during  the  period  of  high 
taxes,  will  aid  the  revenue. 

If  a  new  treaty  is  made,  the  commissioners  will  doubtless 
examine  the  sources  of  revenue  to  which  I  have  adverted,  but 
if  w.e  ask  concessions  we  must  bo  prepared  to  concede  also,  and 
approach  the  subject  in  a  kind  and  liberal  spirit ;  and  if  we  can 
obtain  the  more  important  objects  of  the  treaty,  the  extension 
of  the  free  list,  the  safety  of  the  fisheries,  the  protection  of  our 
present  revenue,  and  the  reduction  of  expenses  on  our  frontier, 
we  can  afford  to  resign  a  part  of  the  income,  to  whose  sources  I 
have  drawn  attention,  and  still  have  a  treaty  beneficial  to  all  the 
contracting  parties,  although  it  may  leave  the  Provinces  some 
reasons  for  a  still  closer  Union. 

\  Under  our  present  tariff,  the  productions  of  the  Provinces, 
now  free,  will  bo  subjected  to  the  following  duties : —  \\^ 


Bituminous  coal,  per  ton,  . 

Leather, 

Timber,    .        .        . 


*  In  currency,  $1.80  per  ton. 


.  $1  25* 
.  85  per  cent. 
.  20  per  cent. 


'/ 


BEGISTBT  AMD  COASTIMO  TRADE. 


$9 


Manufactures  of  wood, 
Wool  worth  over  82  cts.  a  lb., 
Salmon,  per  barrel. 
Mackerel,  per  barrel. 
Dry  fish,  per  quintal. 
Wheat,  per  bushel,    . 
Oats,  per  bushel, 
Barley,  per  bushel,    . 
Flour,  ad  valorem,    . 


.        .     35  per  cent. 
12  cts.  per  lb.  and  10  per  cent. 

$3  00 
2  00 
50  cts. 
20  cts. 
10  cts. 
15  cts. 
20  per  cent. 


ices, 

vv.  ■ 

25* 
I  cent, 
[cent. 


Under  such  duties  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  our  commerce 
will  rapidly  diminish.  The  duty  on  dry  fish  is  the  only  low 
duty  among  them.  That  duty  is  less  than  ten  per  cent,  at 
present. 

iv  Regktrt  and  Coasting  Trade. 

"^  There  is  a  strong  desire  on  the  part,  both  of  Canada  and  the 
maritime  Provinces,  to  secure  admission  into  the  coasting  trade, 
and  the  privilege  of  registry  for  their  vessels  in  tlie  United 
States.  We  have  a  vast  coasting  trade,  and  an  important  trade 
around  the  Cape  with  California,  and  they  have  no  equivalent 
of  equal  value  to  offer,  but  we  should  at  least  allow  our 
own  citizens  who  have  placed  their  vessels  under  the  Brit> 
ish  flag,  to  avoid  the  cruisers  of  the  enemy,  to  register  them 
again  under  our  own,  and  at  the  present  time,  when  wo  are 
suffering  from  the  loss  of  so  many  vessels,  and  coal  freights 
between  Philadelphia  and  Boston  have  risen  from  $2  to  $4.75 
per  ton,  it  is  an  important  question,  whether  we  might  not 
admit,  at  least  for  a  brief  period,  a  supply  of  vessels  from  the 
Colonics,  at  a  duty  not  exceeding  $5  per  ton,  without  injuiy  to 
the  ship-builders.  This  would  replenish  our  stock  of  vessels 
and  alleviate  the  charges  for  coal,  now  selling  at  $15  per  ton  in 
the  ports  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts.  I  am  not,  however, 
prepared  to  recommend  such  a  step  without  further  considera- 
tion. -         • 

It  will  bo  difficult  to  adjust  all  pending  questions  without  a 
treaty,  and  such  a  treaty  should  secure  to  us  the  right  of 
imposing  taxes  on  articles  imported  from  the  Provinces,  when 
;7Q  impose  taxes  on  the  same  articles  produced  at  home. 


60 


EinORATION  FROM  THB  PBOVINOES. 


The  treaty,  too,  must  be  one  of  equivalents,  so  that  no  other 
nations  may  olaim  a  reduction  of  duty  under  any  agreement  to 
place  them  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation.  If  we 
exclude  our  chief  importations  from  distant  nations  from  the 
free  list,  and  require  equivalents,  they  will  see  no  favor  in  the 
treaty,  and  the  treaty  might  provide  that  any  article  for  which 
such  claim  shall  be  established  may  be  stricken  from  the  free 
list. 

There  are  a  few  opponents  of  a  treaty  who  fear  that  a  new 
treaty  with  the  Provinces  may  tempt  our  citizens  to  cross  the 
lines  and  establish  their  mills  and  manufactures  in  Canada.  It 
is  doubtless  true  that  we  at  this  moment  tax  production  and 
locomotion  most  severely;  that  the  amount  of  our  impost$.> 
on  manufactures  and  freight,  with  the  state  of  our  currency, 
deter  our  inhabitants  from  building  ships,  steamers,  mills  and 
houses,  of  which  there  is,  at  this  moment,  a  great  deficiency. 

But  the  return  to  specie  payments  is  already  foreshadowed, 
and  there  is  reason  to  hope  that  the  able  commissioners  who 
have,  with  indefatigable  industry,  examined  the  sources  of  our 
revenue,  will  soon  recommend  the  removal  of  all  charges  on 
production,  will  liberate  entirely  our  coal  and  iron  from  internal 
duties,  and  adopt  the  recommendation  of  our  President,  in  his 
late  message  to  Gongressj  to  remove  all  taxes  upon  railroads. 
If  they  throw,  as  we  may  well  presume,  half  our  taxes  upon 
cotton,  liquors  and  tobacco,  and  the  greater  portion  of  the  residue 
upon  the  luxuries  we  import,  if  they  tax  licenses,  stamps, 
petroleum,  lumber,  banks  and  dividends,  the  taxes  upon  our 
farms  and  mills  will  be  so  light,  and  our  climate,  soil  and 
capital  be  found  so  much  superior  to  those  of  the  Provinces, 
that  we  shall  tempt  their  citizens  to  emigrate.* 

If,  under  the  treaty,  our  commerce  with  the  Provinces  has, 
in  twelve  years,  increased  threefold,  and  in  that  commerce  the 
tonnage  arriving  and  departing  from  our  ports  exceeds  6,600,000 
tons,  if  in  this  tonnage  we  have  the  preponderance,  if  our 
country  has  made  rapid  progress  both  in  population  and  wealth, 
is  there  reason  to  dread  the  operation  of  a  new  treaty  more 
favorable  to  our  own  productions  than  the  treaty  expiring? 


*  It  ia  report«;d  thiit  out  of  20,000  omlgnmU  from  Earopo  to  Canada  in  I860, 
18,000  have  come  into  the  United  States . 


■■:T^ 


V. 


COMMISSIONEBS. 


61 


has, 

lethe 

),000 

our 
|alth, 

lore 


1665, 


GOMMISSIONEBS. 

The  commissioners  to  negotiate  a  new  Treaty  of  Reciprocity 
with  Great  Britain,  should  be  men  who  are  conversant  with 
commerce,  the  fisheries  and  treaties,  and  men  who  will  leave 
no  questions  for  the  future. 

We  owe  to  John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  the  incorruptible 
patriot,  the  founder  of  our  navy,  the  treaty  of  1783,  which 
secured  the  fisheries.  Although  his  coUeagues  were  lukewarm, 
he  appreciated  their  value ;  and  although  his  native  State  was 
exhausted,  and  owed  debts  that  exceeded  the  value  of  her 
property,  he  told  the  British  commissioners  he  would  fight  on 
until  our  rights  were  admitted.  His  treaty  preserved  them 
entire,  as  our  fathers  held  them. 

At  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  in  1814,  the  treaty  of  '83  was 
considered  the  basis  of  our  rights — ^the  quitclaim  deed  of  Great 
Britain.  Our  commissioners  took  the  ground  that  we  should 
consider  all  the  rights  it  granted  established,  and  Great  Britain 
acquiesced.  But  a  few  years  afterwards  Gre^t  Britain  denied 
those  original  and  fundamental  rights  we  had  won  by  the 
sword  and  treaty,  which  she  had  once  abandoned,  and  then 
recognized  as  our  own ;  she  told  us  we  had  resigned  them  by 
the  Treaty  of  Ghent.  She  molested  our  fishermen  and  denied 
them  shelter  in  her  ports.  We  were  obliged  to  treat  again.  A 
convention  was  made  with  her  by  Rush  and  Gallatin  in  1818, 
and  to  secure  shelter,  and  under  the  pressure  of  unjust  claims, 
they  resigned  our  right  to  fish  on  certain  shores,  within  three 
miles  of  the  coast,  inlets,  harbors  and  bays,  stipulating  that  we 
might  enter  those  inlets,  harbors  and  bays  for  shelter  from 
storms  or  for  repairs.  For  many  years  Great  Britain 
acquiesced  in  our  construction,  but  subsequently  set  up  a  new 
construction,  and  seized  our  vessels,  molested  our  vessels,  and 
our  fisheries,  instead  of  keeping  pace  with  our  national 
progress,  actually  declined  a  third,  and  we  were  thus  com- 
pelled to  fight  or  make  another  treaty  —  the  Treaty  oi 
Reciprocity. 

The  value  of  our  fisheries  was  appreciated  in  the  early  days 
of  the  Republic.  The  "  Federalist "  speaks  of  our  three  great 
rights  —  the  right  to  the  lakes,  the  right  to  the  rivers,  the  right 
to  the  fisheries. 


62 


CONCUBBENT  LEGISLATION. 


It  has  been  suggested  that  we  may  regulate  our  intercourse 
with  the  Provinces  by  concurrent  legislation  and  dispense  with 
a  treaty,  and  this  suggestion  must  be  treated  with  respect,  as  it 
might  enable  us  to  alter  our  duties.  But  how  are  we  to  legislate 
in  concurrence  with  five  different  Provinces,  each  of  which  may 
repeal  to-morrow  the  act  of  to-day  ? — ^Provinces  whose  interests 
are  different  and  sometimes  conflicting? — ^who  may  require 
months,  and  possibly  years,  for  their  union  unless  we  accelerate 
it  by  refusing  a  treaty?  One  is  absorbed  in  the  fisheries, 
another  in  agriculture,  another  in  commerce  and  mines, 
another  in  lumber  and  ship-building,  while  a  fifth  has  little 
to  do  with  mines,  and  still  less  with  fisheries,  but  is  cievoted 
to  canals,  railways,  forests  and  agriculture.  One  cares 
little  for  the  three  mile  line  which  encircles  some  Provinces ; 
others  deem  it  important,  and  the  great  shoals  of  mackerel  may 
cross  the  line  of  three  Provinces  in  a  day.  One  Province 
controls  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John,  which  flows  through  the 
land  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts ;  another  the  St.  Lawrence. 
One  has  free  ports  on  our  borders,  and  no  charges  for  lights  or 
anchorage  ;  others  oppressive  charges  for  lighthouses,  pilotage 
and  anchorage.  With  proper  reservations  in  a  new  treaty  we 
may  provide  for  future  duties,  or  for  the  termination  of  the 
treaty  itself  on  six  months'  notice ;  and  if  England  perseveres  in 
her  refusal  to  do  us  justice,  and  compels  us  to  make  reprisals 
on  her  commerce  for  injuries  done  to  our  own,  and  war  ensues, 
it  will  terminate  the  treaty,  unless  we  neutralize  the  rivers  of  the 
Provinces.  If  we  have  other  questions  to  settle  with  England, 
will  not  the  adjustment  of  one  pave  the  way  for  the  adjustment 
of  all? 


British  Treaties.  , 

By  the  Treaties  of  1788  r.nd  1814  the  boundary  line  was  to  run 
from  the  source  of  the  ilt.  Croix,  to  the  north-west  angle  of 
New  Brunswick,  then  Nova  Scotia,  and  thence  by  the  highlands 
that  divide  the  waters  runnliginto  the  sea,  from  those  that  flow 
into  the  St.  Lawrenc^. 

But  Great  Britain  subsequently  discovered  that  these  high- 
lands came  near  Quebec,  and  a  distinguished  surveyor  told 
me  at  Quebec  in  1888,  that  England  would  never  allow  us  to 
come  80  near  their  chief  fortress  and  the  great  highway  of 


f  I 


BRITISH  TREATIES. 


63 


Canada.  Such  was  the  tesult.  England  could  never  find 
the  north-Mast  angle  of  New  Brunswick,  although  the  line 
between  Canada  and  that  Province  was  discoverable  and  has 
since  been  discovered,  and  the  line  running  north  from  the 
sources  of  the  St.  Croix  was  determined,  and  those  lines, 
protracted,  necessarily  intersect.  Regardless  of  this,  England 
put  forth  the  pretension,  that  the  Highlands  we  claimed  severed 
the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  from  those  of  the  St.  John, 
and  that  it  did  not  run  into  the  sea,  but  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
although  most  of  the  rivers  of  Maine  pass  through  bays  on  the 
way  to  the  sea. 

By  such  constructions,  by  great  urbanity,  and  our  desire  for 
peace.  Lord  Ashburton  obtained  the  territory  in  dispute. 

By  this  Ashburton  Treaty,  Maine  and  Massachusetts  were  to 
have  the  free  navigation  of  the  St.  John  River  for  their  timber 
on  its  upper  waters,  but  New  Brunswick,  with  the  express  or 
implied  sanction  of  Great  Britain,  deprived  us  of  the  right, 
guaranteed  by  treaty.  She  exempted,  as  Mr.  Sabine,  secretary 
of  the  Boston  Board  of  Trade,  informs  me,  her  lumbermen 
from  the  license  money  previously  paid  on  Crown  lands,  and  in 
place  of  it  imposed  an  export  duty  on  American  and  British 
lumber,  thus  exacting  a  tax  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  the  value 
of  the  Britich  timber,  as  it  stood  in  the  Crown  lands  of  the 
I*rovince.  ..;    i        „ 

Mr.  Everett  urged  its  remission,  but  failed  to  obtftin  it,  and  on 
his  return  stated  to  a  gentleman,  from  whom  I  receive  the  infor- 
mation, that  Mr.  Calhoun,  of  the  South,  then  in  office,  instructed 
him  to  press  no  further  for  a  remission.  Under  the  Ashburton 
Treaty  of  1841,  we  resigned  also  British  Columbia,  including 
the  gold  mines  of  Prazer's  River,  possibly  within  our  lines,  and 
Vancouver's  Island,  in  part,  south  of  49  degrees  —  to  a  large 
part  of  which  our  right,  was  conclusive,  and  now,  ia  con- 
struing that  treaty.  Great  Britain  wishes  to  deprive  us  of  all 
right  to  the  main  channel  and  the  islands  between  such  channel 
and  the  main. 

Then  we  made  the  Reciprocity  Treaty,  fin  making  it  we  were 
assured  that  Great  Britain  and  the  Provinces  were  inaugurating 
the  system  of  Free  Trade,  that  the  duties  on  our  products  were 
low,  and  we  could  pay  in  goods  for  the  breadstufis  and  raw 
material  of  Canada,  ,|uid  we  in  good  faith  executed  the  treaty. 


w 


u 


TEE  RECIPROCITY  TREATY. 


t  "k 


It  took  eflfect  March  17th,  1855,  as  before  stated,  and  Canada 
with  the  implied  consent  of  Great  Britain,  contrary  to  the 
understanding  of  the  negotiators,  began  to  raise  her  duties. 
By  1859  they  were  generally  advanced. 

Again,  by  this  treaty  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  to 
navigate  the  St.  Lawrence  and  British  canals  as  freely  as  British 
subjcotf.,  but  under  this  treaty,  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
v/ho  passed  through  tlie  Welland  Canal  to  the  American  ports  of 
Oswego  and  Ogdensburg,  have  been  compelled  to  pay  ten  times 
the  tolls  that  are  paid  by  the  Provincials  and  others  who  passed 
down  1 1  the  British  ports  of  Montreal  and  Quebec  by  the  canals 
of  Cauaui.  .  ■.  :•„  '    ,.■'.-    -■.  » -r,.-       ,.*'^"'',.  i 

Again,  in  the  importation  of  foreign  goods  into  Canada,  those 
imported  by  the  St.  Lawrence  or  Grand  Trunk  Railway,  have 
been  charged  a  lower  ad  valorem  duty,  than  those  which  came 
via  Boston  or  New  York. 

It  is  to  bo  hoped  that  wo  shall  hereafter,  in  making  treaties 
with  the  Provinces  and  Great  Britain,  cover  the  entire  ground, 
and  make  treaties  that  admit  of  but  ono  construction,  and  do 
our  countr    '  istice. 

If  Great  Britain  desires  to  propitiate  this  country  after  all  that 
lias  occurred,  would  it  not  bo  her  true  policy  to  cede  to  us  a 
portion  of  her  remote  territories,  valuable  to  x^s  but  of  littlo 
value  to  her.  Were  she  to  cede  to  us  Vancouver's  Island,  and 
British  Columbia,  so  important  to  our  Pacific  coast,  and  so 
remote  from  England,  and  settled  in  groat  part  by  our  own  citi- 
zens, might  she  not  easily  bring  our  claims  to  a  peaceful  solution, 
and  would  not  this  be  profcvable  to  a  sjwcio  payment  or  reprisals 
for  tlie  ravages  of  licr  cruisers.  Might  she  not  tlms  remove 
the  precedent  of  the  Alabama,  so  dangerous  to  her  ov.u  com- 
morco  ? 

She  has  of  late  reduced  hoi  estimate  of  tho  value  of  foreign 
colonies  and  advised  us  to  divide,  and  may  she  not  bo  tempted  to 
resign  Western  Columbiu  and  a  distant  island,  if  she  could 
tlicreUy  retain  our  commerce  and  avert  tlie  ultima  ratio  return, 

I  respectfully  submit  this  to  tho  consideration  of  thu  Govern- 
ment.  .       ,     ,        _    ..,,^ 

Groat  Britain  could  aflbrd  to  give  Austria  such  a  precedent 
for  rof'gning  "cnico,  and  thus  induce  EurojK)  to  promote  trade 
by  reducing  its  standing  armies.    J  assumq,  .)owevor,  that  Groat 


BASIS  FOR  A  NEW  TREATY. 


65 


idont 
ludo 
Iroat 


Britain  will  conclude  to  do  us  justice  and  will  unite  with  the 
Provinces  in  making  an  equitable  treaty  of  reciprocity,  under 
which  our  seaboard  States  to  which  the  Provinces  send  most  of 
their  animals,  coal,  coarse  grains  and  timber,  may  pay  for  them 
OS  they  pay  for  produce  from  our  Western  States,  with  their 
varied  manufactures. 

In  conclusion  allow  me  to  suggest  the  policy  of  adopting  as  a 
basis  for  a  new  treaty  with  Great  Britain  and  the  Provinces,  the 
following  provisions,  or  as  many  of  them  as  can  be  obtained : — 

First.  That  neither  party  shall  establish  or  maintain  either 
in  the  Provinces  or  on  the  waters  that  flow  into  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  or  within  fifty  miles  of  the  same,  any  free  port 
whatever. 

Second.  That  each  party  shall  make  all  reasonable  exertions 
to  discountenance  and  punish  illicit  trade  between  each  of  the 
Provinces  and  their  vessels  and  the  United  States,  by  allowing 
no  shipments  except  by  proper  manifests  and  documents,  and 
with  reasonable  security  against  smuggling. 

Third.  That  each  party  may  impose  any  duties  and  imposts 
whatever  upon  spirits,  malt,  malt  liquors,  wines,  cordials,  tobacco 
and  its  products,  silks,  satins,  laces,  velvets,  sugar  and  molasses 
from  the  sugar  cane,  coffee,  tea,  cocoa,  spices,  broadcloth,  and 
cotton  cloth  worth  more  than  one  dollar  per  pound,  with  this 
proviso,  that  each  party  shall  impose  duties  of  at  least  sixty 
cents  per  gallon  on  spirits  and  cordials,  of  at  least  fifteen 
cents  per  pound  on  manufactured  tobacco  and  tea,  and  four 
cents  per  pound  on  coffee,  spices  and  cocoh,  and  two  dollars  per 
pound  on  silks,  satins,  velvets  and  lace,  imported  into  either 
country. 

Fourth.  That  the  schedule  of  articles  to  be  imported  free,  bo 
changed  as  follows,  viz. :  tho  articles  oi'  cotton,  lumber,  fish  and 
coal  to  be  taken  therefrom  and  tliu  additions  made  which  are 
suggested  in  the  annexed  draft  of  a  treaty. 

Fifth,  That  specific  duties  of  f  I  per  thousand,  board  measure, 
on  lumber,  ton  por  cent,  on  coal  and  fisli  bo  imposed.  That  no 
duties  exceeding  twenty  per  cent,  bo  imposed  on  any  products 
of  each  country  not  enumerated. 


66 


BASIS  FOR  A   NEW  TBEATT. 


Sixthf  That  any  citizen  of  cither  country  may  take  a  patent  or 
copy-right  in  the  other  by  one  procecs  not  more  costly  than  the 
process  here. 

Seventh,  That  goods  received  in  Canada,  through  or  from  the 
United  States  in  original  packages,  shall  be  valued  in  gold  for 
duty  at  the  cost  in  the  country  where  they  were  produced,  as 
if  they  had  come  direct,  and  vice  versa  on  importation^  through 
Canada. 

Eighthf  That  no  diminution  shall  be  made  on  tolls  on  Cana- 
dian canals  or  railways  in  favor  of  vessels  or  goods  passing 
between  Lake  Erie  and  points  below  Ogdensburg,  as  against 
parties  using  the  Welland  Canal  only.  That  no  export  duties 
or  charges  of  any  kind  be  imposed  on  American  timber  from 
Maine,  descending  St.  John  River. 

Ninth,  That  navigation  for  vessels  drawing  12  to  14  feet  each 
be  secured  through  Lake  St.  Clair  around  the  Falls  of  Niagara, 
down  the  St.  Lawrence  and  into  Lake  Champlain,  for  both 
countries,  and  that  the  canal  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Illinois 
River  be  deepened. 

Tenthy  That  vessels  built  in  either  country  may  be  sold  and 
registered  in  the  other,  on  payment  of  a  duty  of  five  dollars  per 
ton,  for  a  limited  period. 

Eleventh,  That  tlio  treaty  bo  extended  to  Newfoundland, 
Western  Columbia,  and  Vancouver's  Island. 

Twelfth,  And  if  possible,  that  the  rights  to  the  fisheries  con- 
ceded by  Treaty  of  1783  and  re-established  by  Reciprocity 
Treaty,  bo  made  pttrpctual.  And  if  as  an  inducement  for  this 
treaty  and  in  settlement  of  Alabama  claims  we  can  obtain  a 
cession  of  Vancouver's  Island  or  other  territory,  it  will  be  a 
consummation  most  devoutly  to  be  wished  for.  Such  a  treaty 
would  be  indeed  a  troaty  of  reciprocity  ;  under  it  our  exiwrts  to 
the  Provinces  would  rapidly  increase.  The  export  of  our  manu- 
factures, which  from  1856  to  1863  dwindled,  under  onerous 
duties,  from  seven  and  one-half  to  one  and  one-half  million  dol- 
lars, would  doubtless  soon  recover  the  ground  it  had  lost,  and  a 
growth  of  eight  or  ten  million  in  our  exports  would  diminish 
the  call  for  specie  to  balance  our  account  and  give  our  mer- 
chants facilities  to  make  further  purchases  in  the  Provinces. 
Canada  under  such  a  treaty  would  doubtless  prosper.  Return 
freights  frtm  this  country  would  reduce  the  freight  uf  broad- 


OOITFEBENCES. 


ff' 


stufiTs,  the  ships  wc  should  receive  from  the  Provinces  would 
swell  our  marine,  instead  of  that  of  England  and  contribute 
something  to  the  National  revenue,  without  injustice  to  our  own 
ship-builders.  .  ....... 

Under  such  a  treaty  there  would  be  a  fair  rivalry  between 
New  York  and  Canada  for  the  improvement  of  their  respective 
canals,  and  if  Qrcat  Britain  should  aid  Canada  in  opening  ship 
canals  from  Ogdensburg  to  the  city  of  Montreal  and  Lake 
Champlain,  and  it  should  be  the  policy  of  our  country  to  carry 
a  ship  canal  around  the  Palls  of  Niagara,  New  York  might  be 
stimulated  to  connect  Lakes  Ontario  and  Champlain  with  the 
Hudson  by  ship  canals  or  railways  like  the  Reading  railway,  with 
a  regular  descent  to  the  deep  waters  of  the  Hudson  and  the 
Tunnel  route  to  Boston.  Should  such  measures  be  adopted 
we  may  place  our  trust  in  the  advantages  which  climate,  and 
open  seas,  and  safe  navigation  and  harbors,  rarely  closed  by 
ice,  give  to  our  great  seaports,  and  may  safely  rely  upon  the 
future  of  our  country. 

Most  of  the  v'ows  taken  in  this  Report  have  been  confirmed 
since  it  was  written  by  a  conference  with  some  of  the  most  able 
and  influential  men  in  the  Provinces,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  a  treaty  can  bo  negotiated  more  satisfactory  than 
that  repealed. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  most  of  our  productions 
may  be  placed  on  the  free  list,  that  the  free  ports  may  be  dis- 
continued, that  duties  imposed  for  revenue  may  be  assimilated, 
and  discriminating  tolls  and  duties,  if  any  now  remain,  bo  dis- 
continued, and  possibly  some  revenue  drawn  from  several  of 
the  important  staples  of  Canada.  And  after  the  conference  I 
have  held,  it  is  but  just  to  Canada  and  her  ministers  to  say  that 
the  duties  imposed  by  Canada  may  be  in  part  ascribed  to  un- 
favorable seasons  between  185G  and  1863,  and  to  the  pressure 
of  a  debt  of  seventy  millions  incurred  in  great  part  for  public 
improvements,  still  unproductive,  and  to  an  extreme  solicitude 
to  develop  trade  and  revenue  proportionate  to  her  large  ex- 
penditure. 

During  tliis  conferonco  the  idea  of  extending  the  treaty  for 
another  year  to  give  time  to  negotiate  and  to  avoid  a  collision 
in  the  fisheries  was  suggested.    It  will  be  difficult  to  have  a  no>? 


m 


CONFERENCES. 


treaty  ratified  by  all  the  parties  before  the  17th  of  March,  1866. 
And  I  respectfully  recommend  that  power  should  be  given  to 
the  President  to  extend  the  Treaty  of  Reciprocity  for  a  single 
year  if  Canada  shall  before  the  1st  of  April  next  discontinue 
her  free  ports  and  check  illicit  trade  by  raising  her  duties 
on  spirits  to  the  point  at  which  our  Revenue  Commissioners 
shall  recommend  our  Government  to  place  it,  and  shall  repeal 
her  duties  on  the  articles  named  in  the  annexed  draft  of  a 
treaty.  Such  a  repeal  she  is  disposed  to  make,  and  it  would  be 
an  earnest  of  a  better  treaty.* 

I  submit  with  this  Preliminary  Report  a  series  of  tables,  some 
valuable  documents,  and  the  draft  of  an  Act  for  the  temporary 
extension  of  the  treaty. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

E.  H.  DERBY, 

Gommimoner  of  the  Treasury  Department. 

Boston,  Mass.,  Jan.  ],  1866. 


"'  The  St.  Lawrence,  for  more  than  nine  miles  below  Montreal,  to  a  width  of 
three  hundred  feet,  has  been  dcepeued  seven  feet,  St  a  cost  estimated  at  less 
than  9i,0Q0,000  for  moving  fire  million  yards  of  earth.  Less  than  one-eighth 
of  the  Lalco  freight  goes  down  to  Montreal.  For  ten  years,  between  1845-1865, 
the  charge  for  freight  from  Montreal  to  Liverpool,  averaged  twice  the  charge 
from  New  York  to  the  same  port 


ly 


TEMPORARY  RENEWAL  OP  THE  TREATY. 


-J,  r., , , 


:^  viii  .  ■'  't^'):.'    >■    .'. 


.<■/  ■/ 


APPENDIX. 


AN  ACT 

To  Provide  fob  the  Tempoeart  Renewal  of  the  Treaty  op 
Reciprocity  with  Great  Britain  and  the  British  Prov- 
inces OP  North  America. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled:  Section  1.  That  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  authorized,  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  to  enter  into  a  Treaty  with  the  United 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  with  each  and  all  of  the 
British  Provinces  of  North  America,  either  severally  or  in  their  aggre- 
gate ca-pacity,  for  the  extension  of  the  Treaty  between  said  parties  and 
the  United  States,  to  regulate  the  trade  between  said  Provinces  and  the 
United  States,  which  was  ratified  June  5th,  1854,  for  the  further  term  of 
one  year,  from  the  17th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1867,  when  the  same  Shall 
terminate. 

Section  2.  Such  extension  shall  not  be  made  until  the  Province  of 
Canada  has  repealed  all  duties  and  taxes  whatever  on  the  following 
products  of  the  United  States,  that  during  such  extension  shall  be 
imported  info  Canada,  or  shall  be  held  in  bond  when  such  extension 
shall  take  effect,  viz. :  Salt,  cars,  locomotives,  vehicles  of  all  kinds, 
machinery,  furniture,  tools,  implements,  soap,  starch,  boots,  shoes, 
leather,  horse-shoes  and  horse-shoe  nails,  harnesses,  tacks,  brads> 
watches,  music  and  musical  instruments,  clocks,  tin  and  wooden  ware, 
mousselino  de  laincs,  coarse  shawls,  satinets,  and  sheetings  and  shirtings 
wonu  less  than  one  dollar  per  pound,  and  has  raised  her  internal  tax 
ond  duly  on  spirits  to  at  least  seventy-five  cents  per  gallon,  wine 
measurr  and  discontinued  her  free  ports  on  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior. 

Section  3.  Said  Treaty  for  extension  shall  also  provide  that  the 
United  l^^tates  may  impose  any  intenial  taxes  on  the  productions  of  the 
Provinces  which  they  levy  upon  their  own  products  of  the  same  kind. 

Section  4,  The  President  of  the  United  States  is  hereby  authorized 
to  appoint  two  persons,  of  suitable  character  and  ability,  commissioners 
or  envoys,  to  negotiate  n  Treaty  with  said  United  Kingdom  and  with 
said  Provinces,  either  jointly  or  severally,  to  regulate  the  commerce  and 


70 


TONNAGE. 


navigation  between  the  respective  territories  and  people  of  said  Province 
and  the  United  States,  on  terms  reciprocallj  beneficial. 

Section  5.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  such  commissioners  to  provide, 
if  possible,  for  the  permanent  security  of  the  fisheries  of  the  United 
States,  to  secure  the  free  interchange  of  the  chief  products  of  art  and 
manufacture,  as  well  as  the  products  of  the  forests  and  agriculture,  and 
other  products,  between  said  Provinces  and  the  United  States,  to  secure, 
if  possible,  the  discontinuance  of  any  free  ports  that  may  endanger  reve- 
nue, and  the  assimilation  of  duties  or  articles  taxed  by  the  two  countries, 
and  the  removal  of  all  charges  for  lights  and  compulsory  pilotage,  and 
all  discriminating  tolls  and  duties,  and  for  improved  navigation  between 
Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi  around  the  Falls  of  Niagara  and 
between  Lake  Ontario,  Montreal  and  Lake  Champlain. 

Section  6.  A  suitable  compensation  for  said  commissioners,  and  for 
their  clerk  hire,  office  rent,  and  other  expenses,  not  to  exceed  in  the 
aggregate  ,  shall  be  fixed  and  determined 

by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Section  7.  AU  articles  produced  in  any  of  the  Provinces,  which, 
under  the  provision  of  the  Treaty  for  extension,  if  made,  shall  be  fireely 
adijoitted  into  Canada,  from  the  United  States,  shall,  during  the  year  of 
extension,  be  freely  admitted  into  the  United  States,  from  Canada,  if 
produced  in  that  ootmtiy.     . 


TABLES. 


l\mnag»  enttrtd  inward  from  United  Statt$  in  aU  th$  Pnmneti  of 

Briiiah  North  America. 


4/ 


Toi«. 

TBAB8. 

t 

. 

U.IUtM. 

BritMi. 

TDUl. 

1816, 

76,807 

J  8,878 

04,160 

1820,  "SI, '23,  average, . 

66,020 

10,464 

76,508  ^ 

1880,    

54,683 

20,756 , 

76,888 

1840,    ........ 

867,078 

401,670 

758,740 

1880, 

094,808 

072,827 

1,067,186 

4884, 

1,665,404 

1,446,847 

8,113,541 

,  IMPORTS,  EZPOBXS,  AND  TONNAGE.  71 

Lnport$  into  the  Provinces  of  Britith  North  America  in  different  years. 


DATE. 

JftomOnst  DriUln. 

From  United  States. 

TotaL 

1840,     .... 
X\ncv|     •           •           •           • 

•16,885,166  00 
11,346,834  00 

•6,100,501  00 
8,842,520  00 

r 

•21,485,667  00 
19,688,854  00 

Easports  and  hnporta  ofihn  seme  in  Commerce  with  the  United  Slates. 

DATE. 

Exports  to  United 
States. 

Imports  flrom  same. 

•4,989,708  00 
4,417,476  00 
4,046,843  00 
'5,207,420  00 
7,947,897  00 


•8,628,214  00 

8,883,755  00 

8,286,611  00 

11,882,311  00 

12,828,812  00 


Aggregate  Tonnage  of  the  Provinces  of  Canada,  New  Brunswick,  Nova 
Scotia,  Newfoundland,  and  Prince  Edwards  Mand,  at  various  periods 
since  1800. 


1806,  tons,    .        .        .      71,943 
1830f    «...    176,040 
1836,    «...    274,738 

1846,  tons,    .        .        .  '899,204 
1850,    «...    446,935 

Tonnage  of  new  Ships  built  in  the  above  I^rovinces  in  several  years  since 

1830. 

1832,  tons,    .        .        .      33,778 
1841,*  «...    104,087 
1849,    «...    108,038 

1850,  tons,    .        .        .    112,787 
1862,    «...    109,212 

Tonnage  owned  in  Great  Britain,  buiU  in  the  Provinces  in  1847. 

Boilt  in  Canada, 154,930 

Built  in  Nova  Scotia, 103,319 

BuUt  in  New  Brunswick, 228,368 

Built  in  Prince  Edwards  Island, 56,079 

Built  in  Newfoundland, 5,631 


72 


TONNAGE  AND  COMMEBGB. 


CANADA. 


BarUH  FSOM  CAXADA||r 

• 

CUAB^XOU  TO  CaHADA 

nan  Umth>  Stats*. 

DATE. 

Ameriean 
Tonnage. 

ronl(n 
Tonnage. 

Ameriean 
Tonnage. 

roKlgn 
Tonnage. 

1861,         .       •       .       . 

1,864,390 

1,047,628 

906,988 

770,450 

1860,         .       .       .       . 

2,617,276 

658,036 

2,678,505 

896,124 

1861 

1,996,892 

684,879 

2,025,670 

731,123 

1862,         .       .       .       . 

2,487,378 

683,411 

2,898,924 

742,732 

1868,         .... 

2,807,233 

743,136 

2,181,065 

987,797 

1864,         ...       . 

1,411,918 

959,049 

1,429,347 

1,148,609 

^ 


Maritime  Province$: — Ootnmerce  with  United  States. 


Ektsibb. 

CUABAVCta. 

DATE. 

American 

Foreign 

American 

Foreign 

Tonnage. 

Tonnage. 

Tonnage. 

Tonnage. 

1860,         .       .       .       . 

184,062 

475,051 

291,812 

599,430 

1861,         .... 

196,709 

476,051 

297,172 

609,928 

1862,         .... 

246,821 

897,702 

292,449 

352,391 

1868 

218,261 

420,961 

260,280 

426,662 

1864,         .... 

254,281 

487,908 

339,901 

681,804 

i 


LnporU  into  Canada  from  abroad. 


DATE. 

By  Bt  lawience. 

Br  Cnite4  Btatea. 

ToUl. 

1850,       .... 

•8,640,000  00 

r,404,800  00 

•16,946,600  00 

Exporlt  from  Canada. 


185Q,      ; 


•  •  • 


•7,474,496  00 


•5,818,500  00 


•13,287,806  00 


IMPORTS  AND  EXPORTS. 


78 


Value  of  Breadstuff's  and  other  Ariicles  eaeported  to   Canada  from 
United  States,  in  different  years. 


M'-  '  — ■- 

DATE. 

BiMdttoflk. 

other  ArtlclM. 

Aggregate. 

1856,        .          .          .          . 

93,880,098  00 

817,008,143  00 

420,883,241  00 

1857, 

8,418,066  00 

13,156,849  00 

16,574,895  00 

1858, 

4,198,282  00 

18,830,972  00 

17,029,254  00 

1850, 

3,610,638  00 

15,430,154  00 

18,940,792  00 

1860, 

2,913,139  00 

11,169,975  00 

14,083,114  00 

1861, 

5,172,588  00 

9,189,270  00 

14,361,858  00 

1862,      . 

5,416,853  00 

7,425,651  00 

12,842,504  00 

1863,      . 

0,588,390  00 

10,810,328  00 

19,898,718  00 

:»^<50,  specie, 
1861,     « 


.  $14,444  00 
.  863,808  00 


1862,  specie, 

1863,  " 


$2,530,297  00 
,   4,651,679  GO 


Of  above  breadstiifFs  the  following  amount  was  exported  by 
St.  Lawrence : — 


I860, 
18*61, 


.  $1,846,462  00 
.  8,103,153  00 


1862, 


.  $5,320,054  00 


Coarse   Grains  exported  from  Canada  to  the   United  States.    From 
"i  Official  Eetums. 


,,   i      DATE. 

Oatt,  boBh. 

Valae. 

Barley,  bull. 

Value. 

1860,  .     :     . 

6,788,351 

94,182,856  00 

— 

-          .. 

1861,  .       .        . 

8,654,380 

1,509,277  00 

- 

- 

1863,  .       .       . 

1,671,223 

483,862  00 

2,090,279 

•1,089,589  00 

1863,   .       . 

2,563,323 

1,050,803  00 

1,810,589 

1,509,978  00 

1864,  .       .       . 

9,549,994 

2,960,737  00 

2,814,289 

2,904,124  00 

Valus  of  Manufactured  Articles  of  the  United  States  exported  to  Canada, 

and  paying  duties. 


1860,      <t^^ti        .   $264,451  00 

1859,  .    .    .  4,185,516  00 

1860,  .   .   .  3,548,114  00 


1861, 
1862, 
1863, 


.  $3,501,642  00 
.  2,596,930  00 
.  1,510,802  00 


10 


?4 

CANADA. 

CANADA.'^Vesseh  buiU. 

. 1 

1882,  tons 
1838,    « 
1841,    « 
1847,    « 

.  4,414 
...        .    6,916 

.  20,707 
•          •          •  uO)4o«7 

1859,  tonR 

1860,  •« 

1861,  « 

.  17,086iiK 
.  23,993 
.  83,187 

m 


CANADA. — Entries  and  Clearances  of  Ships  via  St.  Lawrence  GvHf 
and  River.  Tonnage  intdard  and  outward  by  sea  at  Quebec,  for 
^fveral  years. 


DATE. 

Inward. 

Outward. 

Totd. 

1844,  tons,    .        . 

»               •               •               • 

451,142 

453,894 

906,086 

1845,    " 

576,541 

684,540 

1,161,081 

1848,    "       . 

568,225 

674,872 

1,142,597 

1847,    « 

479,124 

489,817 

968,fil 

1848,    « 

452,430 

457,430 

909,866 

1849,    " 

,  jj  .. 

465,088 

481,227 

946,315 

1850,    "       . 

464,804 

494,821 

960,626 

1851,    " 

533,821 

686,093 

1,110,914 

Tonnayi,  via  St.  Lawrence,  to  and  from  the  Sea. 


DATE. 

iBWUd. 

Outward. 

1857, 

748,426 

731,867 

1858, 

613,813 

632,646 

1859, 

641,662 

640,571 

I860,        . 

831,432 

821,791 

1861, 

1,087,128 

1,058,667 

CANADA. — Imports  and  Exports  in  Commerce  with  the  World. 


m 


DATE. 

Importt. 

Export!. 

1850, 

915,945,600  00 

913,287,996  00 

1851, 

24,006,028  00 

11,341,728  00 

1859, 

33,565,161  00 

24,776,981  00 

1860, 

84,441,621  00 

84,631,890  00 

1862, 

48,6&0,633  00 

81,679,046  00 

1865, 

44,620,469  00 

42,481,151  00 

1 


¥-  a; 


IMPORTS,  EXPOBIB,  AND  TONNAGE.  75 

Import*  and  Hxportt  in  Oommerct  toith  the  United  States. 


DATE. 


1860, 
1861, 
1862, 
1863, 
1861, 


Import!. 


Exportii 


914,083,114  00 
14,861,868  00 
12,842,604  00 
19,888,718  00 
16,668,429  00 


918,861,678  00 
18,646,467  00 
15,253,152  00 
18,818,840  00 
80,974,118  00 


Statement  of  the  Tonnage  on  the  OandU  of  Canada  fvr  four  sueceative 

years,  1860  to  1864. 

WeUand  Canal. 

1860,  tons  of  freight  up  and  down, 944,034 

1861,  «  «  «  1,020,483 

1862,  ««  «  «*  1,243,774 

1863,  «  «  «  .....  1,141,120 

St.  Lawrence  GanaL 

1860,  tons  of  freight, 733,596 

1861,  «  «  .        . 886,900 

1862,  «  <«  964,394 

1868,    «  «  .......     895,183 

Chamhly  Gancd. 

1860,  tons  of  freight,  .        .        .        .     \  .        .        .     217,117 

1861,  «  "  116,239 

1862,  «  « 148,291 

1863,  «  «  253,319 

Tonnage  by  Canadian  Canals. — Afovement  of  WeUand  Canal. 

1859,  tons  transported,         .....'..     709,611 

1860,  tons  transported, 944,884 

G>n)parative  tonnage  of  American  and  Canadiaa  vessels,  passing 
through  tho  WeUand  Canal  in  1863  :— 

8,474  American  vessels,  tons, 808,289 

3,425  Canadian  vessels,  tons, 521,808 

Movement  on  /^.  Lawrence  Canals, 

1859,  tons  transported, 631,769 

1860,  tons  transported, 733,596 


■If  TONNAGE. 

Tonnage  hy  Canadian  CcmaU — Ccmduded. 

'  '■"'  "'  '       ■— .- i  ■■■■.I.         .  ,  I  ■        ■—       .  I       .-,1—...      -^    ■       ■ 

Receipts  in  Montreal,  by  the  La  Chine  Canal,  in  1862,  were, — 
Wheat,  bushels,  ........  7,779,727 

Floor,  equal  to  bushels,       .        .        .        .        .        ,  8,861,935 

Indian  Cora,  bushels,  .        ...        •        .        .  2,691,261 

Shipped,     .        .        .        ....        .        .        11,262,728 


Tonnage  by  Grand  Trunk  Railroad.  Average  movement  in  transit 
trade,  via  Grand  Trunk,  from  England  to  Canada,  from  1854  to  1864, 
$4,500,000  per  annum.  Estimated  earnings  of  Grand  Trunk,  1865, 
$6,200,000.    Cost  of  line,  $82,000,000. 


Coal 

imported  from 

Maritime  Provinces  into  the  United  Slates. 

DATE. 

Tout. 

Valoe. 

1866, 

.       .    ,    .     .  .     „*.       . 

120,446 

•368,671  00 

1857, 

■    lii  •    • 

9            ■     •                m 

133,218 

396,222  00 

1858, 

Al*«S#i''\:"     '^0^\* 

136,733 

387,710  00 

1869, 

urn               •               • 

122,708  . 

872,154  00 

1860, 

,    m               •               • 

149,279 

497,359  00 

1861, 

1               •              •               • 

204,420 

702,165  00 

1862, 

•               •               • 

192,544 

614,057  00 

1863, 

.       .    //. 

'  ■'  %,Mfm' 

282,767 

757,048  00 

1864, 

»                V         •                   >^     •                        '• 

317,500 

883,779  00 

Freight  from  Fictou  to  Boston  has*  averaged  not  far  from  $2,  in  gold, 
por  ton,  during  1865 ;  less  than  the  freight  from  Baltimore  to  Boston. 


NOVA   SCOTIA.          -^ 

>M?t  ■  m^-st.v. 

DATE. 

Import!. 

Exports. 

1829, 

i,*.'^;^ 

»F#*bww!!fri,»'   -lAftr   i' 

•4,780,U64  00 

92,639,093  00 

1832, 

7,380,509  00 

4,717,387  00 

1888, 

6,139,531  00 

4,902,989  00 

1843, 

4,221,168  00 

8,408,782  00 

1848, 

4,024,382  00 

2,514,100  00 

1861, 

7,613,227  00 

6,774,534  00 

1862, 

8,450,042  00 

6,646,461  00 

J^OBTS  AND  IMPORTS. 
PRmOE  EDWARDS  ISLAND. 


rr 


DATE. 


Imports. 


ExporU. 


1845, 
1850, 
1861, 


1121,937  00 

630,475  00 

1,049,675  00 


970,204  00 
360,465  00 
816,570  00 


NEW  BRUNSWICK— Shipping  htih  in  vartws  years. 


1833,  tons, 

.  17,837 

1846,  tons. 

.  40,270 

1836,  « 

.  29,643 

1847,  « 

.  63,372 

1838,  «     .   . 

.  29,167 

1848,  «     ►'  , 

.  22,79a 

1839,  «     .   . 

.  45,864 

1849,  « 

.  36,534 

1840,  «     .   . 

.  64,104 

1859,  « 

.•   .  38,330 

1843,  «*     . 

.   .  14,550 

1861,  « 

.  40,523 

Exports  and  Imports  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunsmck,  at  different 
periods,  in  its  commerce  with  all  places. 


DATE. 

_ 
1834,  •        «.    ^   t.      >'  s     *        •    .    • 

1839,  .       .      jsj,,  :i0  >K*^:.^i->r  * 
1842,  .       .       .       .       .       .       . 

1846,  

1848 

XOsV^  •  •  •       '   •  •  •  • 

1861,  


Imports. 


Exports. 


•3,089,188  00 

8,749,601  00 
6,997,777  00 

7,263,378  00 

2,693,473  00 

4,972,876  00 

3,021,158  00 

3,330,847  00 

4,852,440  00 

6499,701  00 


92,397,704  00 
2,778,738  00 
3,122,952  00 
3,932,536  00 
2,339,899  00 
4,256,462  00 
8,068,165  00 
2,887,017  00 
3,780,105  00 
3,856,538  00 


Duties,  in  1850,  on  anchors,  canvas,  cordage,  cables,  copper  bolts, 
seines,  nets,  sails,  rigging  and  tar,  one  per  cent.  Tools,  bread,  biscuits, 
&c.,  ten  per  cent.  Boots,  shoes,  vehicles,  clocks,  chairs,  brooms, 
musical  instruments,  wooden  ware,  matches,  &c.,  20  per  cent. 

Other  articles,  in  part  free,  in  part  under  a  small  duty. 


78 


EXPORTS  AND  IMPOBTS,  FISHERIES. 
Exports  from  Newfoundland. 


1763,  qumtals- of  fish,  .  386,274 

1785,  «  .  591,276 

1705,  «  .  600,000 

1805,  "  .  625,919 

1815,  "  .  1,180,661 

1820,  «  .  899,729 

1825,  "  .  973,464 


1830,  quintals  offish,     .     948,643 


1835, 

u 

.  712,588 

1837, 

<( 

.  524,696 

1840, 

u 

.  915,795 

1841, 

u 

.  1,009,725 

1848, 

u 

.  920,366 

If 


U.iited  States   Vessels  engaged  in  the  Fisheries,  exclusive  of  thf 

Whale  Fishery. 


181',  tons 
1820,  " 
1825,  « 
1830,  •' 
1835,  « 
1840,  « 


26,510 
60,812 
70,626 
97,500 
137,800 
104,300 


1845,  tous  . 

.   91,238 

1850,  «   . 

.  143,758 

1855,  «   . 

.  124,552 

1860,  «   . 

.  162,763 

1862,  "   .. 

.  203,459 

1863,  «   . 

.  163,000 

The  vessels  are  sailed  in  shares,  and  all  are  interested  iu  the  voyage. 

The  ovTiers  provide  vessel,  tackle,  stores  and  outfit,  and  receive  ht^lf 
the  fish  talc^n ;  each  man  claims  half  the  fish  ho  takes. 

The  annual  sum  paid  out  by  the  owners,  including  payment^)  of  shares 
to  the  men,  repairs  and  renewals,  and  all  disbursements,  are  computed 
to  exceed  $80  per  ton, — and  as  the  business  n  akcs^mc  returns  on  capi- 
tal, wo  nwy  estimate  tho  gross  produce  for  1865,  as  above  $14,000,000. 

In  1865,  vessels  iu  the  cod-fishery  are  estimated  to  average  from  800 
to  1,000  quintals  of  dry  fish.  In  the  mackerel  business,  from  500  to 
700  barrels.  Dry  fish  aro  now  worth  $8  to  $9  per  quintal,  and 
mackerel  $1 2  to  $15  per  barrel. 

Number  of  Vessels  engntged  in  Cod  and  Mackerel  Fishery,  a*  estimated 
at  the  Register's  Office,  Treasury  Department,  November,  24,  1865, 
by  J.  A.  GuAHAM,  Assistant-Jiegister. 


7850, 
1851, 
1852, 
1858, 
1854, 
1855, 
1850, 
1857, 


2,680 
2,591 
3,262 
2,996 
2,627 
.\418 
2,414 
2,460 


1858, 
1859, 
1860, 
1861, 
1862, 
1863, 
1864, 


3,877 
8,044 
8,168 
3,666 
8<«15 
3,196 
3,000 


FISHEBIES. 


79 


J'VjA  and  Products  of  the  Fisheries,  imported  from  the  Maritime  PrO' 
vinces  into  the  United  States. 


1856, 
1857, 
1858, 
1859, 
1860, 


$1,935,960 
1,867,259 
1,744,704 
2,150,420 
2,116,412 


1861, 
1862, 
1863, 
1864, 


.  $1,716,813 

.   1,020,208 

",    908,024 

y   1,376,704 


EstimcUe  of  the  Fisheries  of  the  United  States  for  1859,  6y  Hon.  L 
Sabine,  Secretary  of  Boston  Board  of  Trade. 

The  tonnage  alone  is  official.  T'he  sea  and  whale  arc  estimated  on 
official  data.  The  shell,  lake,  nver,  &C.,  rest  on  some  well  asccrtaiaed 
facts.  ,^''  '    ^  .     W:'' 

Sea,  as  cod,  hake, haddock,  mackerel, halibut,  polloclc,  and  sea  herring: — 

Tonnage* •  .        .  175,30^ 

Value  of  fish  and  oU, $6,730,000      " 

Capital  invested, 7,280,000  0  . 

Tonnage,  in  whale  fishery, 185,728 

Capital  invested, $23,850,000  00 

Value  of  oil,  bone,  and  sperm  candles,         .        .        .     19,280,000  00 

Shell,  as  oyster,  lobs^pr,  turtle,  clam,  &c.,  &c.,      .        .       6,825,000  00 

Lake  and  River,  Brook  and  Stream — say  salmon,  shad, 
white  fish,  river  herring,  alewives,  trout,  pickerel, 
&c.,  &c.        f       fc      ♦       A       f.^      f       *,       .      2,875,000  00 

Fish  taken  purposely  for  manure,  value,      .        .        .         260,000  00 

Svmmary  of  Annual  Inducts. 

Cod,  &c. $6,730,000  00 

Whale, 19,280,000  00 

Shell, 6,825,000  00 

Lake,  river,  Ac, 2,375,000  00 

For  inaiiuro,      ,        .  * ^,  .  260,000  00 

Total,        .        .        ....        .        .        .  $83,970,000  00 


*  Th«  official  tonnage  i«  i«M.    The  difference  is  added  for  boats  employed  in  the  sbora 
fliheriei,  which  are  neither  enrolled  nor  licensed 


80 


CHIEP  CANALS  OP  CANADA. 


IF 


ERIE  CANAL. 

Tonnage  arriving  at  tide  water  by  Erie  Canal,  from  the  Western 
States:  In  1840,  158,148 tons;  in  1845, 304,551  tons ;  in  1850, 773,858 
tons;  in  1855,  1,092,876  tons;  in  1860,  1,896,975  tons;  in  1862, 
2,594,837  tons.  ^ 

Tlie  revenues  of  Erie  Canal  were :   For  1861,  $3,402,628.30 ;  for  1862,' 
$4,854,989;    for   1863,  $5,042,005.     Reyenue  of  Champlain  Canal, 
$163,000;  tonnage,  658,000. 

Between  1851  and  1854,  the  tolls  were  removed  from  the  Central 
Railway;  and  the  New  "York  and  Erie,  Ogdcnsburg,  Baltimore  and 
Ohio,  Grand  Trunk,  and  Great  Western  Railways  were  completed. 
The  tonnage  of  the  Central,  and  New  York  and  Erie  lines  was,  in 
1862,  over  3,000,000  tons,  and  has  since  greatly  increased.  •  >•"" 


tJ   'rH'ff/i 


•..  ..I  f 


Length,  Dimensions  and  Lockage  of  Chief  Canals  of  Canada. 


'■;.■. 


The  Welland  Canal,  between  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario, — Length,  2fj 
miles  ;  locks,  28.  Fall  from  Lake  Erie,  334  feet.  Locks,  180  feet  by 
27  feet;  depth  10  feet.     Admits  vessels  of  400  tons,  drawing  9  feet. 

St.  Lawrence  Canals. — Length,  44  miles.  Locks,  27.  Ascent  from 
Montreal  to  foot  of  Lake  Ontario,  222  feet.  Depth  in  locks,  9  feet. 
Admit  vessels  of  300  tons.  Vessels  drawing  20  feet  water,  now  ascend 
to  Montreal ;  but,  as  the  depth  of  canals  is  determined  by  that  of  Lake 
St.  Clair,  which  does  not  admit  vcsscIb  drawing  over  9  feet,  it  is  pro- 
posed to  deepen  these  canals  to  10  feet,  and  alter  dimensions  of  locks  to 
250  feet  length  by  50  feet  width,  which  will  admit  vessels  drawing  9 
feet,  and  of  capacity  of  750  tons. 

The  Caughnawaga  Canal,  which  it  has  been  proposed,  in  Canada,  to 
construct  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  St.  John,  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  by  one  route  requires  five  locks,  by  another,  requires  but  two  locks, 
and  would  bo  36  miles  long.  It  was  proposed  to  have  locks  230  feet 
long  by  36  feet  wide,  and  10  feet  water  on  the  sills,  admitting  vessels  of 
850  tons. 

From  "NVljitehall,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain,  to  West  Tmy,  the 
distance  is  67  miles ;  the  lockage,  204  feet.  The  locks  admit  small 
vessels  only. 

Ad  the  summit  level  is  but  54  feet  above  Lake  Champlain,  the  lake 

may  possibly  bo  used  as  a  summit  level,  and  there  are  grtiat  facilities 

for  a  ship  canal.    It  has  been  cstinmtcd  that  $12,000,000  will  carry 

ship  caiialH  iiiul  navigation  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  deep  waters  of 

.tho  Hudson. 


ff 


ILLICIT  "fRADE. 


«1 


A  ship  canal  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Lake  Champlain  has  been 
recommended  to  the  Canadian  Government  by  Messrs  Young  and  Rob- 
inson, Chief  Commissioners  of  the  Public  Works  ;  also  by  Mr.  W.  H. 
Merritt;  in  his  report  upon  the  public  works  of  Canada,  and  by  a 
nearly  unanimous  vote  of  the  House  of  Assembly  of  Canada.  It  has 
been  recommended,  also,  by  the  Boards  of  Trade  of  Boston,  Kingston, 
Montreal,  and  other  cities. 

The  route  has  been  surveyed  by  J.  B.  Mills,  Esq.,  and  by  Messrs. 
Jervis,  Swift  and  Child,  Civil  Engineers. 

Such  are  the  levels  that  a  dam  iu  the  Hudson,  at  the  Highlands,  of 
150  feet  in  height,  would  send  back  the  stream  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  estimates  of  Mr.  Jervis  for  &  ship  canal  between  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  Lake  Champlain,  ranged  from  $3,500,000  to  $4,600,000. 
Mr.  Swift's  estimate  was  but  $2,083,000. 


•i 


BOSTON. 


The  commerce  of  Boston,  affected  by  the  Treaty  of  Reciprocity, 
exceeds  $27,000,000  annually,  viz.: — Imports  fixjm  and  exports  to 
maritime  Provinces,  $6,000,000.  Outfits  and  returns  in  deep  sea  fish- 
eries, $11,000,000.  Imports  of  wool,  grain,  and  animals,  across  frontier 
of  Canada,  and  entered  there,  with  returns,  at  least,  $10,000,000. 


t: 


Record  of  Smuggling  Cases  since  April  1,  1865,  at  Detroit,  Michigan. 
Furnished  by  J.  B.  Bkown,  Esq.,  U,  S.  Assistant  District-Attorney. 
December  3,  ISG6.  '    ;  ^ 


^ 


Number  of  arrests  made,   . 

of  indictments  found,    . 

of  convictions, 

of  iudictnicnts  undisposed  of, 

of  acquittals. 
Amount  of  fines  imposed  and  paid, 

of  costs  imposed  and  paid,     . 
'.'"     of  fines  imposed,  yet  unpaid, . 

of  fines  imposed  and  remitted  by  President,   . 

ISrattAer  of  libels  filed, 

Amoimt  of  pergonal  property  seized  and  ibrfeited,  about 


*-• 


120 

94 

38 

65 

None. 

$1,925  00 

653  80 

3,385  00 

500  00 

38 

$12,000  00 


n 


f  IT 


82 


ANNEXATION. 
"^ANNEXATION. 


[Extract  from  Speeoh  of  J.  Jobnstou,  Esq.,  of  Milvraakee,  at  Detroit  Gonvention,  1805.] 

There  are  those  who  think  that,  while  the  closest  commercial  inter- 
course Tvith  Canada  is  desirable,  yet  hope,  by  stopping  that  intercoui-se 
for  a  few  years,  to  compel  the  Canadians  to  sue  for  annexation.  Vain 
delusion!  Every  link  between  the  United  States  and  the  Provinces 
that  is  severed,  tends  to  strengthen  the  connection  between  the  latter 
and  the  mother  country.  Annexation  will  never  be  brought  about  by 
force  in  matters  of  trade.  Why,  the  independent  existence  of  this  great 
country  arose  from  the  attempts  of  Britain  to  coerce  the  Colonies  in  this 
very  respect.  No,  sir,  if  we  wish  to  annex  the  Provinces,  we  have  to 
assimilate  them,  by  unrestricted  intercourse,  to  our  habits  and  our  man- 
ners of  action  and  feeling — we  have  to  Americanize  them.  That  will 
assuredly  be  done  far  sooner  by  reciprocal  trade  and  by  Conventions 
like  this  than  by  non-intercourse.  Every  railroad  that  is  built,  every 
telegraph  that  is  erected,  every  ship  that  passes  between  the  two 
countries,  tends  to  bind  them  closer  in  the  bands  of  brotherhood. 

The  opponents  of  reciprocity  tantalize  us  by  parading  the  millions  of 
revenue  which  we  would  have  obtained  from  the  articles  now  being 
imported  from  the  Provinces,  had  they  not  been  made  free  by  the 
Treaty.  They  forget  to  tell  us  that  this  great  trade  would  not  have 
existed  bad  it  not  been  for  the  Treaty;  and  even  had  it  existed,  and  a 
large  revenue  accrued  fix)m  it,  we  would  have  been  the  persons  who 
would  have  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  paying  the  duties,  and  not  the 
Canadians,  for  it  is  the  consumers  of  commodities  who  pay  the  imposts 
upon  them.  "But,  think  you,  would  the  people  of  these  Northern  States 
be  more  able  to  pay  their  taxes  ailer  this  immense  and  profitable  trade 
is  destroyed  than  they  are  now? 

[Extract  Oom  the  Speech  of  lion.  Joskph  Howk  of  Nora  Scotia,  b«fore  Detroit 

Convention.] 

No  considerations  of  finance,  no  question  of  balance  for  or  against 
them,  upon  interchanges  of  commodities,  can  have  any  influence  unon 
the  loyalty  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  British  Provinces,  or  tend  in  the 
slightest  degree  to  alienate  the  affections  of  the  people  from  their 
country,  their  institutions,  their  government,  and  their  Queen.  There 
is  not  a  loyal  man  in  the  British  American  Provinces,  no  man  worthy 
of  the  name,  who,  whatever  may  happen  to  the  Treaty,  will  become  any 
the  less  loyal,  any  the  less  true  to  his  country  on  that  accoimt.  There 
is  not  a  man  wlio  dare,  on  the  abrogation  of  the  Treaty,  if  such  should 
be  its  fate,  take  the  hustings  and  appeal  to  any  constituency  on  annexa- 
tion principles  throughout  the  entire  domain.    The  man  who  aTowi 

r, 


''% 


OCEAN  STEAMERS. 


I  1 


•such  a  sentiment  will  be  scouted  ik>m  society  by  his  best  friends. 
What  other  treatment  would  a  man  deserve  who  shoiold  turn  traitor 
to  his  sovereign  and  his  government,  and  violate,  for  pecimiary  advan- 
tage, all  obligations  to  the  country  which  gave  him  birth?  You  know 
what  you  call  Copperheads,  and  a  nice  life  they  have  of  it.  (Laughter.) 
Just  such  a  life  will  the  man  have  who  talks  treason  on  the  other  side 
of  the  lines.  (Applause.)  The  very  boy  to  whom  I  have  alluded  as 
having  fought  manfully  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  would  rather  blow 
his  own  father's  brains  out  than  haul  down  the  honored  flag  under 
which  he  has  been  bom — the  flag  of  his  nation  and  of  his  fatherland. 


I 


!t 


[Extract  from  Speech  of  G.  H.  Ferbt,  C.  E.,  of  Ottowa,  Canada  West.] 
The    blessings  which  imrestricted    commercial    intercourse   would 
bestow  upon  both  nations  are  incalculable.     As  friends  and  neighbors, 
it  would  improve  the  good  understanding  which  should  exist  between 
people  having  so  many  interests  in  common;  and  it  would  prove  a  ^ 
blessing  to  the  vast  mass  of  the  overpeopled  countries  of  Europe. 

Hostile  tariffs  will  not  produce  any  of  those  effocts  which  the  advo- 
•cates  of  protection  desire.  They  'tvill  not  develop  any  of  the  resources 
of  the  "Western  States,  nor  will  they  add  to  the  wealth  or  happiness  of 
the  vast  mass  of  the  people,  or  the  prosperity  of  the  general  commerce 
of  the  country.  They  will  not  bring  about  the  consummation  so 
earnestly  desired  by  your  extreme  politicians,  of  annexation. 

Content  with  our  lover  political  life  and  greater  personal  freedom^ 
we  leave  to  the  aspirants  after  new  nationalities  the  higher  political  life 
they  covet,  nor  do  we  regret  the  accompanying  concomitants,  in  our 
content  witU^ur  o^n  condition. 


■^  OCEAN   STEAMERS.  df 

[Extract  fW>m  the  Speech  of  Ddmcan  Stewart,  Esq.,  at  Detroit.] 
I  consider  that,  with  twelve  feet  six  inches  to  fourteen  feet  water, 
down  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  will  always  be  more  profitable  to  transfer  at 
Montreal  or  Quebec,  than  attempt  to  cross  the  ocean  with  lake-going 
steamers.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that  in  reaching  Quebec,  they  need 
not  put  on  board  fuel  fur  more  than  u  run  of  two  hundred  miles  at  a 
time,  thus  saving  a  vast  amount  of  freight  room ;  whereas,  in  crossing 
the  ocean,  tliey  must  put  fuel  on  board  for  the  run  of  twenty-five 
hundred  miles,  and  a  surphix  t'^  cover  contingencies.  It  would  bo 
unwise  to  have  that  surplus  Ivss  than  enough  to  nui  three  thousand 
miles.  Every  gentleman  who  has  any  experience  in  thi»  buttiuesH 
will  see  at  onct;  that  it  would  take  flileen  times  moro  tnnnaga 
jroom  for  Aiel  to  cross   the  ocean  than  it  would  take  to  ran  down 


Wfc 


FISHEHIES  IN  GTTLT 


ST.  LAWRI!NCE. 


'I 


Ij    :f 


the  river.  In  going  xioihi'  tha  river,  there  would  he  no  need  to  have- 
over  twenty-flve  tons  of  coal  on  board  at  any  one  time,  including  the 
surplusi  because  twenty  tons  would  be  sufficient  to  run  a  screw  steamer 
of  one  thousand  tons  cargo  capacity,  with  a  low-pressure  engine,  two 
hundred  miles,  leaving  nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  tons  for  cargo- 
and  iwenty-five  tons  for  coal— only  two  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the 
carrying  capacity  being  reserved  for  fuel;  whereas,  for  the  ocean  voy- 
age, it  would  be  imsafe  to  leave  port  with  less  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  tons  of  coal,  or  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  carrying  capacity — 
leaving  only  seven  hundred  and  fifty  tons  for  freight  roop.  I  think 
this  dearly  demonstrates  the  economy  of  a  transfer  of  cargo  at  either 
Montreal  or  Quebec.  '     '^  ?  /V^  * 


FISHEHIES   IN  GUtP  OP  ST.  LAWRENCE. 


[Extract  from  Letter  of  Messrs.  Deam  and  Law,  dated  Charlottetown,  P.  E.  I., 
July  3, 1865,  read  at  Detroit  Conyention.] 

For  some  years  previous  to  the  time  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  went 
into  eflfect,  the  Americans  fishing  were  embarrassed  in  consequence  of 
the  three  mile  limit,  and  the  construction  put  upon  it  by  Colonial 
officers,  that  it  meant  three  miles  outside  of  a  straight  line  from  head- 
land to  headland,  which,  in  many  localities,  where  the  buoys  were 
deep,  would  make  them  many  miles  off,  and  the  continual  harassing 
and  capturing  of  our  vessels — so  much  so  as  to  nearly  ruin  the  business 
as  a  -whole — the  tonnage  engaged  fast  depreciating,  and  at  the  time 
the  Treaty  went  into  effect  the  fishing  fleet  in  the  Bay  and  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence  was  much  smaller  than  it  had  been  some  years 
before.  We  think  that,  for  one  or  two  years  previous  to  the  Treaty,' 
there  could  not  have  been  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  sail  of 
American  vessels  in  these  waters,  averaging  seventy-five  tons  each; 
value,  three  thousand  dollars  each,  and  manned  by  eleven  men  each, 
with  on  average  catch  of  mackerel  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-fivo 
barrels  each;  estimated  value,  twelve  dollars  per  barrel,  gross,  and  ten 
dollars  not— Gloucester  having  a  majority  of  tlic  fleet,  being  most 
daring  in  the  pursuance  of  Jier  business.  In  the  lost  two  years,  wo 
think,  there  have  been  employed  six  hundred  vessels ;  average  tonnage, 
ninety  each^  value,  five  thousand  «'oIlar8  each,  ond  manned  by  fifteen 
men  each,  with  an  average  aitJi  ui  (ive  hundred  and  twenty-five  barrels 
of  mackerel;  estimated  value,  at  the  time  of  landing,  fourteen  dollars 
and  a  half  per  barrel,  groiis,  and  twelve  dollars  net. 


